Doublecross
by Leon Blackhill
Summary: Jo has made a deal, not a very good one nor willingly, but now she has to stick close to the Winchesters and find out a way out of its before is too late. Please review. Chapter 9's up
1. Do We Have A Deal?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own supernatural.

It was a warm night and Jack's Bar & Pool was crowded, Benjamin was behind the bar, he was a young man also he was kind of handsome, or at least that's what most girls said about him. He bartended at nights and went to college in the morning, but he was more annoying than pica-pica in your pants. He was always showing off, especially with the girls, juggling glasses, on his breaks he did fantasy pool shots to impress the costumers and always wearing a cocky smile, dyed blond hair and blue contact glasses. Benjamin was the reason why Jo was waitressing tonight, serving the regular drunken old farts and some new butt-grabbing stupid men that had come to watch the game and drink until passing out. The schedule Jo was supposed to work the bar tonight but thanks to Benjamin's conversation with Jack, the owner, Jo was stuck waitressing. He had told Jack that tonight was game night and they'd have a full house so the most skilled person should tend the bar, this meaning him. These kind of nights were a nightmare people checking her out, spilling beer on her, a guy on table nine squeezed her but when she was cleaning the table next to him, she had wanted to break the guy's hand but decided against it, she was out of cash, her last hunt had left her out of money.

"Johanna phone!" Benjamin yelled, he was also the only one who called her Johanna, besides her mother.

Jo delivered the last drinks on her tray and went behind the bar to answer the phone, but when she got to it, it was back on its cradle, she picked it up but got nothing, just the dialling tone.

"Did you hang up?" Jo asked pissed to Benjamin who was refilling a young girl's tequila shot.

"Yeah, it was your mom…she said that if you could go home and helper with something, a think she said something about hunting but I not really sure" he replied with his arrogant smile.

"What? Why did you hang up?"

"Well Johanna, this ain't no pay phone, personal calls are not allowed and you know that"

Jo did think it twice, her mom calling and after the huge fight they've had the last time they saw each other, must mean something serious. So she did something she had wanted to do ever since she arrived to this town and got work at Jack's Bar & Pool, she punched Benjamin in the face. She felt his nose move out of place with a loud pop. He didn't saw it coming. Usually when he did this kind of thing to her she just ignored him. He went straight to the floor Benjamin, a stream of blood coming out of his nose. The people went silent, the ones at the bar stared astonished and on the floor Benjamin held his swelling nose carefully, his eyes were watery, he was about to cry. Jo grabbed her bag and left, sure she needed the money, but her mother needed her, she could easily get another job and since Benjamin had been a pain in the ass ever since day one, she felt pretty good with herself.

Months ago, Lucifer had freed the horsemen to walk the Earth. War had decided to have some fun in the calm town of Carthage. He had fooled people into believing the town was infested with demons and made them fight and kill each other, Jo and her mother had been there, but it wasn't until the Winchesters showed up that they were able to determinate who was behind the whole mess. Not long after these events Jo heard a rumour that the demon responsible of her father's death was back.

Back on the days when Jo was around 3 or 4 years old, a man, John Winchester had walked into the Roadhouse, John had lost her wife and was seeking revenge, thus he wanted to learn everything about being a hunter. Bill had been a hunter most of his life, so once or twice he gave John a hand. John was beginning to accept that most monsters from the darkest nightmares you could imagine were real, but still he was catching up as best as he could. One day they went hunting and her father was killed. According to John, he had screwed up the trap and Bill had paid for that. The next day John brought the bad news to the Roadhouse, Ellen Harvelle, Bill's wife, knew that was part the job, you could get killed, and deep down she didn't held it against John, but in that moment she couldn't look him in the eyes, neither could John look into hers.

After that, John's visits to the Roadhouse stopped, and Ellen had to raise her daughter without a father. She did it, and she did it keeping Jo as far away as she could from taking up Bill's occupation. Despite Ellen's best efforts Jo had hunter's blood pumping through her veins, and with the conviction of becoming one, she grew up hating school, having almost no friends, and listening to the histories other hunters told when they stopped at the Roadhouse after a long day.

Then the Winchesters appeared, bringing the news of John's death, and not long afterwards Jo had escaped to Philadelphia to hunt a ghost, against Ellen's wishes, when she dragged Jo back home she told her the truth about how her father had died.

Now the thing that had killed him was back and Jo to go after it, the problem was Ellen didn't. She said it was too dangerous. They fought and split up. Jo had been trying to track down the monster, but always arrived too late. Ellen and Jo didn't talk anymore, they just send messages every now and then, telling one another that they were still alive, sometimes the message included where they were. That was why her mom call, telling her to come home, probably meant trouble and a big one most likely. She didn't like the sound of that. Even more unsettling than the call, was the ride home, Jo had been calling her mother but she only got her voice mail. She drove all night with just the dark sky extending above and the grey pavement beneath her.

Finally she arrived at her mom's motel, she asked the clerk; indeed her mother had taken a room three days ago. Ellen's truck was parked outside her room, the sign "Do not disturb" hanged from the doorknob. Jo knocked, getting no response she turned the doorknob. The door was open. She let herself in, the bed was unmade and cold, hadn't been used in a while, her mom's bags where on a chair by the corner of the room. To the right side of the bed was a nightstand with a lamp and a glass of water on top, Jo approached it and noticed a note under the glass, it read:

_Mommy'__s in the clearing in the woods. Come at midnight or I'll cut her throat open._

Jo picked up the note, she went to her car and prepared, she armed herself with a reliable short shotgun, a silver knife, holy water, salt and her newest acquisition a Desert Eagle .50. She asked the motel clerk for directions then was on her way to the woods. You could get to the clearing by following a dirt path a couple of miles down the main highway. Wasting no time she got to the clearing, it was early but she wanted to know the ground, which would be impossible once the night fell. Under other circumstances, the place would have looked beautiful to her, the middle was filled with green high grass and sunlight, around it gorgeous wild flowers grew, all colours and sizes, it looked calm and peaceful. A ring of trees spread around the flowers, providing a cool shadow to rest, the weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. Jo found a good place among some trees to wait for midnight. As night came, the place changed, the beautiful and peaceful place transformed into a creepy and unsettling, the air was cold and it made her shiver, the clearing was awfully quiet, the animals didn't made a sound, there weren't even crickets singing. When it was almost time for the meeting, Jo turned off her lights, with only the moon and the stars as illumination, she waited holding her shotgun tight. As soon as the clock hit twelve; she felt a great force swing her away from her hideout and into the high grass. She stood up quickly, with her shotgun ready to fire, in the dark she could make out two people approaching her, she chose to shoot now and ask questions later. She shot twice at the one in the right, then she reloaded, faster than she'd ever done in her entire life, and fire at the other. Suddenly a bright white light hit her face blinding her. She saw two familiar faces, but before she could react, she was thrown against a tree, the blow made her drop her shotgun, she couldn't move, she was stuck to the tree. With no floor beneath her she tried to focus her sight on her attackers, one she recognized as her mother, only her eyes were completely black.

Ellen picked up her daughter's shotgun "What have I told you about playing with guns?" she said with a sly smile and a mocking tone.

"You're not my mother bitch!" Jo snapped back.

With a fast move the demon slapped Jo "Johanna Beth Harvelle! Don't you use that tone with me!" she scolded her with the same mocking tone of voice.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Jo asked angrily

"I like that, straight to the chase, just as I had imagined!" A new voice to her right said, Jo turned her head to see who it belonged to but before she could, her mother smacked her with the butt of the shotgun, leaving her unconscious.

The smell woke her up. She slowly opened her eyes, her cheek hurt but it was nothing compared to her head. She felt her hair, face and neck wet, she assumed it was blood, when she finally got her eyes completely open she realized what the smell was, she was no longer in the forest, she was in an old sewer, the walls were moist and filthy, the air was stale and unbearable, she could see it like a poisonous cloud rising and hovering around the room. Two torches one next to her the other on the wall in front gave her a faint visibility. Her arms hurt too, they were stretched above her and chained to the wall. An endless passage extended to her right, to her left the room made a right turn, she heard footsteps coming from it. A man entered, he had chocolate colour hair combed back, he was wearing a black coat and pants, white shirt and a dark cane, he wasn't too old, maybe in his forties, certainly he didn't need the cane, it was just for show. Following him other tree people walked in, a woman about her age with long auburn hair, wearing jeans and a red blouse, behind her Benjamin with his swollen purple nose and finally her mother. Benjamin and her mom had black eyes.

"Glad you're awake" the man with the cane said with a calm voice.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Jo asked in a low voice.

The girl and the two demons looked at the man with the cane waiting. "Leave us" the man finally said, the others obeyed and within seconds they were alone, for a moment they just stare at each other.

"My name is Nicholas Chambers, I'm an illusionist. I'd shake hands with you but I see you're a little indispose" the man introduced himself.

"What do you want? Why did you kidnap my mother?"

"Right to it huh? – he walked from right to left and from left to right – I like that" his eyes never leaving hers, he approached and searched her back "What do we have here?" - he took out her Desert Eagle from its holster – What's a girl doing with such a weapon?" Nicholas asked

"Give it to me and I'll show you" Jo snapped back

The man laughed and continued to walk back and forth analyzing the gun "I must admit you have a good taste fro guns – Jo didn't replied so he kept talking – Jo I… can I call you Jo or do you prefer Johanna?"

"Go to hell!" was Jo response.

"Jo it is, just like your friends and family –he made a pause – As I was saying, I need your help"

J was surprised at his statement "Kidnapping my mom and chaining me up isn't the best way of asking" she said sarcastically.

"Don't be silly of course it isn't, I know that, the thing is I don't think is the kind of help you'd want to provide willingly" he explained. Jo was quiet. "I want you to help me kill Dean Winchester" A nervous laugh escaped Jo's throat "What's so funny?" he asked her.

"Oh just that either you don't know me or are incredibly stupid. I'll never harm the Winchesters"

Nicholas came closer to her "Don't be so sure, I consider myself to be very persuasive" he trailed her face and neck with the gun.

Jo broke eye contact and looked up. Nicholas looked up too and saw Jo's middle finger raised, he laughed and immediately hit her with the gun. The blow busted her lip open. He stood still as if waiting for her to change her mind, Jo took advantage of the moment and spit on Nicholas's face, his arrogant expression changed, his face turned red, he stepped back, suddenly raised his hand and shot at her. Jo closed her eyes, she was waiting for the pain to take over, but nothing, for a second she thought he had failed, but then she felt it, heat right next to her neck, he hadn't aimed at her, it had been a warning shot. He placed the gun on her cheek, it was still hot from firing.

"Changed your mind?" his voice was still upset.

"You can suck it and go to hell 'cause I wont hurt Dean"

"Go to hell? That's the only thing you can say? – he made a pause, lowered the weapon and stepped back – perhaps I haven't made myself clear, did you see the demon wearing your mother's flesh – Jo didn't respond – that demon obeys me, that means if I ask her to jump off the roof, she'll do it, and Ellen inside there would feel everything, her bones breaking, her head splitting, same goes if I tell her to shoot or stab herself, I don't know, but trust me when I don't get what I want I get very creative"

"You're a pathetic son of a bitch – Jo said with a knot in her throat, she took a couple of seconds to regain control on herself – Why do you want to kill him?"

"I'll tell you that when I trust you better" Jo gave him an angry look then turn her head away "Oh come on is not like I want you to go wherever the hell he is and put a bullet in his head – he approached and gently turned her head so she would be looking at him – what I want you to do is to just lead him to me when the time is right" Jo tried to keep her gaze away from his "Do that and mommy would be safe and sound"

"Why me?" Jo asked after a long pause, the knot in her throat made speaking hard.

"Easy! With all the crap that's going on, the Winchesters trust very few people, and you my dear, are one of them" Jo thought about this, she didn't want to lose her mother and less to whatever this creep was planning on doing to her, but Dean was her friend, to her even more than that, still she had to make a decision and she had to make it now.

"When?" she finally asked

Nicholas was charmed at this, she was giving in, soon she'd agree "I'm not sure there are still some details I have to work on, and that might take a while" he said licking his lower lip. Jo considered this as a good thing, with time she could think of a way to get out of this whole mess without her mom getting hurt and without harming the Winchesters.

"What am I supposed to do? Are you going to keep me here until then?"

"Oh do I hear a yes my dear?" Nicholas said, the eager in his voice was annoying. Jo made a pause _is this really the only way_ she thought but sadly realized that yes it was, it was the one and only way.

"Yes" she said hating herself

"Pardon me dear you have to be more specific" his eyes were shinning.

"I'll help you kill Dean Winchester"

"Lovely! – his voice was full with joy – I know I'm no demon but let's close this deal properly" after he said this, he grabbed Jo's face with both his hands and kissed her. Filled with disgust, Jo kept her lips and mouth shut into a tight line and struggled to get her face free from his grip. After a moment he backed away.

"Now let my mom go!" Jo demanded, keeping herself from spiting at his kiss.

"I'm sorry dear but, Ellen is my insurance, I can't let her go just yet" he explained

"What? But how do I know you won't kill both of them?" The horrible feeling of impotence made her want to cry, but he could give him the pleasure of seeing her broken.

"Well you don't… but you really have a lot of options here, now do you?" In that moment Jo hated the guy with every fibber of her body. She wanted to grab his little annoying head and smash it again, again and again against the hard stone wall. "Now concerning your previous question, for the time being, you'll keep an eye on him, I was told of some bizarre murders in a small town, not far from here, I'm sure it will get the brother's attention, you'll be there and you'll tag along with them" he explained.

Suddenly fresh air hit her face, clean air, she didn't understand it, the room was closed, there wasn't any gap where the air could leak in. It didn't make any sense. Then she blinked and she saw it, she was still in the woods, then she remembered _My name is Nicholas. I'm an Illusionist._ It had all being an illusion. She looked up her hands weren't tied up, she lowered them and threw a punch at Nicholas. But as she turned, she saw he had his palm stretched out. He simply blew. She noticed a sweet smell, immediately passed out and dropped to the ground.


	2. Stuck with You

**Disclaimer:** I don't own supernatural.

Dean Winchester was eating lunch with his brother and man, he was enjoying it, he had ordered a big cheese burger with extra cheese, extra onions, extra beacon, extra peppers, well pretty much extra everything. As he gave it another bite he moaned in pleasure, it was absolutely delicious.

"Geez Dean get a room" Sam said looking away from his computer screen.

"Come on Sammy this is dammed good… why haven't you touched yours?" Dean said with a mouthful.

"I didn't understand a word you've just said"

Dean swallowed "I asked: Why haven't you touched your food? Come on Sammy the middle of the apocalypse and the job is froze we need to appreciate times like this as much as we can"

"Well the job just unfroze 'cause I think I found something"

Dean didn't listen to his brother. He was back at his cheese burger "Sorry what?" he said swallowing a big chunk and moaning in delight.

"Seriously dude you're freaking me out" Dean just smiled at his brother's comment "I said I think I found something" he said turning the laptop to Dean.

Dean read some of the article displayed on Sam's computer, took zip of his soda "_Died under suspicious circumstances_. That doesn't exactly ring supernatural to me" Dean concluded. Sam clicked on the laptop and another window opened.

Dean looked away almost immediately "Man I'm eating here –Dean closed the laptop, Sam had managed to get the autopsy photos – fine we'll take a look"

Sam laughed and started eating.

Jo woke up in a dark room. Still half asleep she took a look at her surroundings, to her right was a nightstand with a lamp on top, she reached for the lamp's switch and turned it on, she closed her eyes at the bright light, she felt as if having the worst hangover of her entire life, and growing up in a bar, she had had her fair share of those. She opened her eyes little by little, she looked around some more, her head hurt and she was a little disoriented, but with a little help of the wall she managed to stand up. The double bed she'd woken up in occupied most of the room, in front of it there was a big mirror with a small chest of drawers below, to the right of the bed there was an open door that led to a tiny bathroom, next to it a closed door that was probably a closet, on the left corner of the bed was her bag. The room was painted wine red. She walked to the mirror and looked at herself, there was a big rusty red coloured stain on the right side of her face, it ran form her head to her neck, dried blood. The wound on her head, where her mother had hit her, had been sewed. She looked down and saw an envelope and a folder on top of the drawers. She took it and opened it there was a note inside:

My dear associate:

Your clothes and weapons are in your bag by the bed. Your head was in a bad shape, I patched you up, you needed stitches. I left some information about the deaths I told you about, that should get you started. I heard the Winchesters were heading over there.

Best of luck

Nicholas

With anger Jo crumpled the small note and threw it in the trash can, but then fearing someone could pick it up and read it she retrieved it and put it in her pocket. She took the folder and sat on the bed with her legs crossed, she opened it, there were three obituaries inside, Barbara Hayes 82 years old, Justin Meyer 32 years old and Keith Banks 20 there weren't any specific details about their deaths.

Jo went into the bathroom and took a shower, she changed her clothes and looked at the clock over the night stand, in bright red numbers said it was 11:53. She grabbed her wallet and walked out she would investigate more about the deaths, but first she would get something to eat, she was starving.

She found a dinner one block down. She sat on the bar and ordered the house's special. A man next to her was reading the newspaper, on one column in the front page read: _No explanation for Barbara's death_ and below the title _picked to death_. Jo was surprised at this news, and Sara the waitress noticed it.

"Everyone says the witch did it" Sara whispered to Jo, like if it was a great secret and no one should hear about it.

"The witch?" Jo asked

"An old legend of this town" she explained

"Really? What does the legend says?" Jo continued

"Some crazy old witch cursed the town a long time ago, but I really don't know the whole thing neither I care to know – she gave Jo her order – I don't believe in witches"

"You don't happen to know some one that knows the whole legend" Jo asked taking a bite of her dish.

"Hmmm… maybe the guy from the old bookstore, What's his name? – Sara place the pencil she was holding to her lips thinking –Mr. Berry, that's it! Well he seems to be into that kind of thing"

"Huh" Jo said and continued eating.

After almost licking her plate Jo paid a visit to Mr Berry's bookstore. It was a small shop, with an old fashion style. The wall's were made of orange brick and there was a soft green carpet on the floor There were lots of bookcases neatly lined and ordered in all the room. When Jo pushed the door open a little bell rang above her and a man with a beard and moustache came to greet her. He was short. He had black curly hair but with a few white hairs on the edges of his head.

"Hello there I'm Mr. Berry How can I be of assistance?"

"Hi… I'm Jo, I was wondering if you could tell me about the town's legend, you know about the witch?"

"Of course, I love that story, well I love a lot of stories but that one might just be my very favourite, although is very sad and tragic. What do you like to know about it?"

"Everything, you see I'm doing this story for the school's paper" Jo lied

"Wonderful, sure I can tell you a lot if it's not everything… Let me put my thoughts in order… It all happened in the late 20's early30's. The town back then was nothing more than a small village called Coldcrow, it was called like that because the mornings here were very chilly and also because the town was infested with crows, everywhere you looked you could see one of those birds, resting on the roofs of the few houses, over the church, or just flying in the open field. This, I mean the crows weren't that many until a woman, Charlotte Howell moved in. She was beautiful. She had long dark hair which she held with a stunning silver hair pin, the only souvenir her mother had left her, and incredibly white skin and she had a warm heart, she would help anyone even if she didn't know him. She also had a special spot on her heart for animals, she was the kind of woman who if see a wounded bird would nursed it back to health. But despite her beauty and charisma, she wasn't welcomed in town. She had a son, Eugene, who was the meaning of her entire life and her only true source of happiness, but she wasn't married. She was well behaved but didn't attend to church. Rumour said she was a witch, but it didn't say she was a white one. She used her magic to help others. Since the day she moved she was treated bad, people used to throw things at her house, and scream all sorts of barbarities at her on the street, which she only ignored. Little Eugene had hell every day he lived. Kids insulted him and beat him at school, they played cruel prangs on him, and even threw rocks at him, but his mother always told him it would pass. An as if being the son of the town's witch wasn't enough, Eugene was deformed, half his face had been burned by a drunken man in their previous town, thus little Eugene was terrified of fire, just lighting a candle made his skin crawl.

One day, two kids, a girl and a boy, were found murdered in the forest. They had been stabbed to death. The authorities found no guilty, but the people weren't just sit there and wait for the next kid to die, they were angry and they wanted someone to blame. So it was more than easy to say, it was Charlotte, Charlotte lived in the house by the graveyard next to the woods, Charlotte was alone, nobody wanted her, Charlotte had that creature for a son, she had probably wanted to keep the kids as her own, and last but not least Charlotte was a witch, she was evil, she talked to the devil at nights, crows completely covered the roof of her house. A couple of weeks after the two kids were found, the people burned her house, what they didn't count on was that Charlotte wasn't there, but her son was, Eugene died. Charlotte was completely destroyed, she became bitter and sad. She buried her boy what was left of him in the town's graveyard. Without home or hope, she exiled herself to a shack in the woods. Nobody saw her for months. People thought she had died of sadness. Until one night she appeared in the middle of town, she looked awful, her skin was yellowish and looked sick, her hair was messy and dirty and the smell, she smelled like sulphur, they said she had gone to hell and back, carrying with her the smells of the infernal pits. All town gathered with curiosity and fear, she pronounced a spell, a spine chilling wind blew all the candles and torches off. In the dark she continued the spell, all of the sudden she turn into a ball of fire, burning up she never stopped chanting the incantation. People were so terrified none moved or made a sound, man shivered in their places, women sobbed quietly. Then she finished the fire ball seemed to be about to explode, it grew bigger and bigger, but no, it disappeared, leaving Coldcrow in complete darkness. Afterwards the candles and torches lighted up again. The town was back to normal but Charlotte had disappeared, consumed by the flames. Not many days after, the town began to go down, bad harvest, terrible whether, you know thunderstorms and alike, finally an epidemic swiped Coldcrow. No one survived" Mr. Berry took a deep breath finishing his story.

"How do you know all of this?"

"Ooh I got my hands on some documents, after all it's my job and my passion. You can trust that every word is true" he assured her.

Sam was a little tired, they had been listening to the same tape over and over, he couldn't understand how his brother didn't get tired of them. He turned his attention towards the window, they were just outside town.

"Hey look! – Dean pointed with his finger – circus's in town"

Sam looked at it then rolled his eyes "Here we go again"

"Oh come on you take the fun out of it" Dean complained.

"You're just going to make a stupid joke about me not liking clowns"

"I wasn't going…" Sam gave him a telepathic look that said _bullshit_. "Ok I was" Dean admitted.

They passed the circus and entered town. They stopped at a gas station and changed clothes, then went straight to the hospital.

"FBI? More of you guys?" Dr. Sullivan asked puzzled.

"More? What do you mean more?" Dean, or agent Tyler, asked.

"Yeah one of you guys already checked on the bodies" Dr, Sullivan explained as he showed them to the morgue.

"Do you remember who?" Sam asked

"Yeah, young woman hmm… agent Bennett I think, blond, short, honey eyes"

"Oh yeah, agent Bennett, she was… reassigned…" Dean lied through his teeth.

"Yeah but since it was so sudden she didn't gave us her report" Sam added.

"Oh I see, well… here they are – Dr. Sullivan took off the white sheet that covered the body of a woman, she was pretty old, she had white hair and her bones could be seen through her skin. Pieces of skin hanged from her face and arms, there were holes all over her body exposing organs, muscle and bone – Barbara Hayes, 82, picked to death, by crows"

Before Dr. Sullivan could continue Sam saw something "What is this? – Sam said pointing her left wrist - Looks like a burn" It was a slight hand print burn it was almost unnoticeable.

"Yes and here's the interesting part" Dr. Sullivan said and moved to the next examination tables. Taking off the sheets of the bodies on the metallic tables he continued "Justin Meyer 32, drown in the pond and Keith Banks, 20 lung cancer" Both bodies had the same hand prints, Justin on his right ankle, Keith on his chest.

Sam examined the prints more closely "Anything else we need to know?" he added.

"Actually there is one thing… Keith Banks is twenty years old and the cancer we found on him… well we only see it in men who smoked two or three packs a day"

After their visit to the morgue Dean went to interview the friends and family of the victims, while Sam stayed in their motel room looking for something that could be behind the strange deaths.

"So Mr…"Dean began

"Davies, Jerome Davies" Jerome Davies was a tall and strong man, he spent three to five hours at the gym, and eat all kinds of proteins shakes he could get his hands on.

"Right Mr. Davies, What can you tell me about Barbara" Dean asked.

"Well not much, she was my neighbour, she called the cops on me once… a party… she was normal I guess, religious, you know always going to church and stuff, but most old ladies are like that I guess"

"So, she wasn't acting weird or… I don't know scared?"

"No, just same old grumpy Barbara"

"Well thanks if you think of anything else give me a call all right?"

"Wait… Is it true…you know how she died? The crows?"

"Yeah…"

"Ohh man, poor lady, did you know she was scared to death of those birds, she said they were the devils emissaries"

Dean got to his car and drive to his next location, "The sugar cup", a bakery downtown. Heather Meyer was the owner.

"So Heather, I understand Justin was your brother"

"Yes that's correct"

"What can you tell me about him?"

"Just that he was an accountant, he spent all day in the office, he was very shy, never got the guts to talk to this girl he liked" Tears fell down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry" Dean said sympathetically.

"I know I should say it's ok or it's alright but it's not, I still don't understand it, my brother would go for a swim in the pond – she wiped her tears with her apron – When we were little my father used to take us fishing, one time, my dad wasn't there and we took the boat, Justin fell off of it, I screamed for help, a jogging man came to our help, he pull him out of the water and gave him CPR. My brother almost drown that day, he was terrified of water ever since"

"So you're saying someone dragged him to the pond?"

"I'm not saying that, but… I just think this is pretty weird and I can't find any explanation"

After talking to Heather, Dean drove to the last place, Keith Banks's apartment. His roommate Corey let him in.

"So what's brings the feds to our little piece of hell"

"Your roommate"

"Keith? My God what did he do?"

"He died, didn't you know?"

"He died?, Oh shit… no I had no idea, you know I just got back from a crazy ass road trip with Janice and Kelly" he whispered.

"Janice and Kelly?"

"Cheerleaders" he said with a whistle and a smile.

"Cheerleaders…" Dean repeated

"What can I say man they love musicians" Corey said with a smile. After a pause he asked Dean "How did he… you know"

"Lung cancer"

"Lung cancer? – he said disbelieving – I mean its weird but… why would the feds care about that?"

Dean was frozen for a second, when he heard it that way, FBI looking into lung cancer was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. "You said a little weird, Why?" he finally said.

"Because his father died of that too" Corey said as if that would solve any doubt on Dean's head.

"And?"

"And he was scare shitless of smoking, he wouldn't even try some of…" he trailed off thinking it would be good to tell that kind of information to the cops.

"Thanks – Dean said standing up – we'll be in touch"

Dean got back to the motel, it had been annoying especially the last guy, but he had got something, or a least he hoped so, all three of them had died in fear. He knocked on the door and Sammy let him in. He dropped himself on the bed.

"All victims died with fear" He said already knowing the question in his brother's mind. Sam listened quietly. "Barbara was afraid of crows, Justin was afraid of water and Keith was afraid of getting cancer" he explained.

"Wow" was Sam's only response.

"Yeah, so what about you did you find something?" Dean asked.

"Yes, there's a town legend about a witch, who lost her son and cursed the town"

"Witch huh? Sounds about right, did the legend said were she was buried?"

"No but it says she lived in a house in the woods, maybe we could find something there"

"Night trip, great" Dean said with a tiny bit of sarcasm in his voice.

Sam and Dean entered the shack, or what was left of it. The floor and walls were moist and growing plants, the ceiling seemed to barely holding on. There was very little furniture just a rocking chair, an empty bookcase. There was a bathroom to the right with a broken shower and an old toilet that smelled worst than any of the creatures the Winchesters had faced in their lives. There was another room, Dean walked into it to find a small and wasted away mattress stuck in the corner, and a pile of old clothes on the floor, there was a wooden chest too, it had been locked once but had been opened by force. Dean opened it and it was empty. He heard the squeaking of the floor boards behind him, but by the time he heard it, it was too late, the squeak was followed by the cracking of a shotgun, which he felt shortly afterwards on his back.

"Hmmm… Déjà vu" a familiar voice said with a small laugh.

Sam was standing on the doorstep looking at Dean's attacker with his gun raised. He lowered down "Jo?"

"Hi Sam – Jo began, she lowered her weapon – hi Dean" she said with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" Dean asked.

"Hunting" she said simply.

"Witch?" Sam asked.

"Yep, I came here to find clues about what kind of ritual the witch cast over town - she explained – I didn't expected company but it's always fun to point a shotgun at Dean" she said mocking.

Dean gave her a pissed look "Did you force that chest?"

"No, it was like that when I got here"

"Well did you found anything?" Sam asked her.

"Here? No but I think I know someone who might have the witches spell book"

"Great tell us, we'll ice the bitch and you'll be on your way" Dean said to her.

"You wish, this is my hunt, if you want to help you're welcome but I'm not giving you my information so you can just ditch me" Jo complained.

"I don't think that's a good idea, you know you don't have that much experience and… - Sam slapped his brother on the head – Hey!" Dean complained rubbing his head.

"We want to help" Sam told her.

It was late. They gave Jo a ride to her motel and they returned to theirs. Sam entered the bathroom to brush his teeth. Dean laid on his bed face up.

"I hope we get this over tomorrow"

"Why the hurry?" Sam asked spitting in the sink.

"Because, it's Jo Sammy, we finish this she would want to stick around"

"And that's bad because…"

"Oh I don't know because the apocalypse? It's hard enough to watch each others backs, without having to watch Jo's"

"She's not so bad, besides we could use the back up, as you said it is the apocalypse" Sam said climbing into his bed.

Dean turned and closed his eyes trying to sleep.

The next morning after breakfast, Jo took them to see Mr. Berry, the bearded man was thrill to see Jo again but a little nervous to see she had company, especially when he saw Dean who looked pretty annoyed.

"Nice to see you again dear, can I help you?" He asked with a trembling voice.

"Yeah we were…" Jo couldn't explain.

"We wondered if you had the witches spell book" Dean said interrupting her.

"What the hell is he doing?" Jo whispered quietly to Sam.

"I don't know" Sam whispered back.

"I beg your pardon?" Mr. Berry said shivering.

"The spell book we need it, we know you have it" Dean took a step forward to intimidate the short timid man.

"I don't know who you think you are sir but I…" Mr. Berry began.

Dean didn't let him finish he took out his FBI ID "Don't give me that crap, or I'll have your little store shut down and your ass thrown in jail if you obstruct my investigation"

Mr. Berry didn't know what to do, he had never been more terrified in his life, and when the man said the thing about shutting down his store, his life's work, he didn't have to think it twice "Sure just a minute" he went behind his counter and took a wooden box out, he opened it and showed them a big black book "This is all I have but is not a spell book as you said, it's a journal, Charlotte Howell's journal"

"Thanks we'll give it back as soon as we're done with the case" Dean said grabbing the book and already heading to the door.

Sam and Jo followed him, outside the store and out of the frightened man's sight, Dean handed the book to Sammy. "What did you do that?" Jo asked him angry.

"To get the book" Dean said as if it was totally obvious.

"I could have talked him on to give us the book, without scare him half to death" Jo complained.

"Yeah but that would have taken more time" Dean explained.

"You're an insensible ass" Jo said and turned her attention to Sam.

Dean gave her just a small snarl, "So is that what we were looking for?"

Sam flipped through the pages "Yeah, ritual's here – he turned the page - so does the spell to break the curse"

"Well let's do it" Dean said eager to finish this particular job.

"Not that easy, all the ingredients are easy to get but one…"

"What?" Jo asked.

"Something she treasured, something that meant something to her, that still has her essence"

"We checked the cabin. There was nothing that seemed important" Dean commented.

"She used to live in a house by the graveyard, maybe it's still there and Mr Berry told me she wore a silver hair pin inherited from her mother" Jo remembered from the legend.

"Let's check maybe that'll work" Sam told her.

The graveyard house had been rebuilt. It was the keeper's home. But according to the city records it was the same basement so it was worth to take the shot even if it was a long one. They knocked but got no answer. Making sure there was no one around who might call the cops upon seeing them enter the house, Dean picked the lock of the front door, it took him no more than five seconds. They entered quickly and closed the door. They carried their shotguns loaded with rock salt. The house was small and had only one floor, small living room, kitchen and a bedroom with a bathroom. Dean and Jo checked the bedroom while Sam checked the kitchen.

"Guys!" Sam called. Dean and Jo rushed to the kitchen. A man wearing brown pants and an open blue button shirt was lying on the floor, he was pale, his eyes and mouth were shut. Sam checked the man's neck, no pulse, but when he crouched to do it, he saw the burned handprint next to the man's collar bone.

The guy's head tiled to the left, it caught Sam unexpected "Shit!" he jumped back.

"Look!" Jo said pointing the guy's chest.

The guy's skin moved; there was something was beneath. His mouth and eyes opened. A million tiny black spiders were gathered in his mouth, some ran out of the body from the corners of his eyes.

They backed away back into the small living room. "Guess we're in the right place" Dean said. They found the basement's door and went down. There wasn't much, a water heater in the corner and an old fridge in another. As they walked around, Dean felt a lose board on the floor, he took it off and found a folded silk handkerchief, it was the silver pin. "Jackpot" he said in a low voice.

Sam was already setting the things for the ritual; Dean was helping his brother drawing some symbols on the floor, when a shotgun blast made him look away from what he was doing, he turned in time to see the witch dissolve in a cloud of smoke.

"She's here" Jo let them know.

Dean hurried up, stood up and grabbed his shotgun, "We'll cover you Sammy" he said and Sam started the ritual, as the first words of the spell came out of his mouth the witch was back she appeared behind of Sammy. Dean blasted her away, then it attacked Dean throwing him against the wall, Jo dispersed her again. Sam was speaking faster now but careful to pronounce right every word. The witch appeared in front of Jo, when she was reloading, Charlotte grabbed Jo's shotgun with one hand and was ready to touch the other but suddenly disappeared, Dean had shot her. Sam finished the spell. They waited looking around, everything was still. They relaxed, the ritual had done it. They picked up their stuff and headed upstairs, Jo first then Dean and finally Sam. Something grabbed Sam's ankle and pulled him down. He fell. Dean turned around and saw the witch crawling on the stairs, he shot her away and helped Sam up. As Sam checked his ankle he saw the reddish burn on it. Dean looked at his brother's ankle _crap_ he thought. They got out of there as quickly as they could.

"What happened?" Dean asked.

"I don't know the ritual was alright but we got something wrong" Sam explained

"What?"

"I don't know maybe the pin wasn't something that important to her"

"Her son!" Jo almost screamed.

"What?" Dean asked.

"According to the legend he loved him more than anything, I mean that's the reason why she went crazy, because she lost him" Jo talked as fast as she could.

"The cemetery" Sam thought out loud.

They ran and searched the old gravestones for Eugene Howell. After a few minutes Dean screamed "Found it!" They ran to the Impala and got shovels. Dean and Jo dig while Sam prepared the ritual again. He was so focused he saw it when it was already on his nose.

"You got to be kidding me… clowns?" he said in a low voice.

"What?" Dean asked and looked up. Five clowns with red noses, big and multicoloured clothes, dyed hair and big shoes were entering the graveyard. They walked fast and all of them had knives, except for one that had a handgun. "Shit!" He took out his own handgun and aimed.

"Wait no! – Jo stopped him – they're people, just under the spell" She grabbed her rock salt loaded shotgun and shot the one with the handgun, it went to the ground. Sam finished the preparations. Dean climbed out of the grave and handed Sam the shovel. "Keep digging" and went to join Jo.

Jo was hitting another clown's head with the butt of her shotgun. Dean dodged a green haired clown's knife and punched him hard, he knocked him out. Another clown this one blue haired grabbed him from behind, Dean tried to get off his grip but the bastard was strong, Jo saw him and shot a round of rock salt at the clown's back, he let go of Dean who finished the job with a punch to the jaw. Dogging three quick stabs Jo hit one of the two clowns left on the stomach with her shotgun then brought the shotgun up and hit his face. As Dean knocked unconscious the last clown, he felt a burning pain in his back, reloading fast as she had done in the forest, Jo shot the witch touching Dean's back.

After the witch disappeared, a loud howl chilled Dean's blood, to his right fallen leaves crunched under the weight of an invisible creature, more leaves crunched to his left follow by bloodthirsty barks. Dean didn't move, but when the dried leaves were thrown to the air, he knew they were coming. Out of nowhere Jo was in front of him and aiming at the nothing to his right, there was a shriek and the hellhound hit a gravestone, the roaring of the shotgun had broke Dean's trance. He pulled out his gun, and shot the one in the left, he emptied the clip. He looked at his right Jo shot the monster again point blank. She reloaded, but just as some black fluid stained the ground were the hellhound lay dead, the witch appeared again in front of her. The witch grabbed Jo's arm, she was frozen. Dean ran towards her and taking the gun off her hands he shot the evil witch. Sam finished digging up the body and started with the spell. Without looking he handed back the shotgun to Jo, she took it, pointed it to Dean and shot him. Dean went to the ground with a stinging pain in his chest, the salt made him cough, "What the…" he couldn't finish, Jo was on top of him. He look to her eyes, they were hollow, totally empty. Jo grabbed Dean's handgun from the ground. Dean saw it on time to punch Jo and rolled her over, he was on top now, he held Jo's hands over her head "Sam hurry up!" Sam continued chanting as fast as he could manage, when he said the last word, there was a loud shriek and the witch appeared over her son's tomb, she stood there hovering for a minute or two then she looked to the sky and disappeared in a flame of blue fire.

Jo stopped struggling Dean, he let go of her and sat on the ground next, catching his breath. "What the hell? Why did you attack me?"

Jo held his gaze for a moment then looked to the ground "I'm afraid I might screw something up and get someone killed" she said in a low voice.

Dean didn't say anything he just stared at her. He knew exactly why she feared that.

They return to the motel, picked their stuff up and were ready to leave. Not long after they destroyed the witch's curse, people had gathered to see what happened in the graveyard. They would leave before people had time to come look for the two strangers that had arrived when the whole problem had started. Sam was already in the car. Dean was making sure they didn't leave anything behind. They hadn't, he made a quick run to the store to pick up some breakfast and to run a little errand. He climbed in the Impala's driver seat. He handed Sam two bags of Chips, one of Doritos and a couple of Twinkies.

"Oh great I'm starving" a voice from the backseat exclaimed.

Dean jumped in his seat and looked at the review mirror "What? What are you doing here? – Jo just smiled at him so he turned to Sam – "What's she doing there?"

"I told her she could come along" Sam explained.

"What?"

"Oh come on Dean we're a good team, sure sometimes you're a dick like with Mr. Berry… but you weren't as annoying as I thought" Jo explained.

Dean gave Sam a very angry look "For your information I did returned the book"

"Really?"

"Yeah" on his way to the store he had left the book next to the store's door, after ripping the vengeful spell of course.

"Well let's get going" Jo said and gave Dean a slight tap on his shoulder. Then she laid back on the backseat.


	3. I Have A Plan

**Disclaimer:** I don't own supernatural.

After driving all night they stopped to rest in a motel by the small town they were passing. Dean still wanted Jo to go away, but Sam kept telling him she wouldn't.

"Right because you invited her" Dean complained.

"Come on Dean she's not that bad"

"We need to think of a way to ditch her" Dean proposed.

"What? No, she'll leave when she gets tired of you" Sam concluded.

"Wait! Yeah that's it… Sammy you're a genius"

"What? No… Dean what are you planning" Sam didn't like the way his brother's eyes were glowing. He was thinking something, something bad.

Jo had gone to check them in she got a double room for the brothers and a single on for her. She gave Dean the key to his room and took out her bags.

"Jo" Dean called her.

"Yeah?"

"Look I've been thinking If you want to tag along with us, that's…that's ok with me" Dean began.

"Really? Oh Dean that's…"

"But… - Dean interrupted her – you'll have to pitch in ok?"

"Sure I want to help"

"Good" Dean said with a smile and Jo returned, then he threw his bags on Jo's arms, Jo's smile faded "You're in charge of the bags" Dean said without stop smiling.

"What but I thought…"

"And when you are done taking those to our room, you can help – He remarked the word help – clean all the gun's I have in the trunk"

"All the guns? Are you insane? There're enough guns in there to arm a small army!"

"If you can't do your duties you can't come with us" Dean said as a final word.

"Fine" Jo said with a small snarl and carried the bags back to his room.

"Wait!" Dean called.

"What?" Jo turned pissed.

Dean threw the room key to her "You'll need that" the key hit Jo in the head and with a girly scream she dropped the bags.

Dean laughed; this was the greatest idea he had ever had. "Bite me!" Jo yelled back.

After taking their bags to their room Jo was about to begin her next task. So he was looking for Dean.

"Sam have you seen the douche bag you have for a brother?"

"I think he was at the bar in front"

"Thanks"

Jo entered the bar and found Dean talking to a gorgeous brunette woman in a business suit. She approached and heard part of the conversation.

"Business trip huh? – Dean asked with interest – Where are you staying?"

"Right in font of here actually" the woman replied.

"Get out of here, so am I!" Dean said surprised.

Jo tapped Dean's shoulder and got Dean's attention "Hi – she said to the woman – sorry to interrupt but I need your keys"

"Why?" Dean asked protective of his car.

"Well if I'm going to... – Jo looked at the woman – If I'm going to clean up the inside I need the keys"

"Right" Dean remembered and handed her the keys "Oh Jo – he said before she left – as you are already on that, do you mind washing the car too" Jo kept herself from punching him and left.

Jo finished cleaning the guns and washing the Impala, she spend the whole morning doing that, but she knew Dean was trying to get rid of her, it wouldn't matter what he did, she had to stay, her mother's life depended on it. She tried to use the time to also think of a way to solve her problem, but the hard part was that she didn't know anything about Nicholas. She needed to do some digging later. But for now she was on her way to the Winchester's room. She didn't knock, just entered. Dean was shirtless. Jo had to give it to him he looked great. His abdomen was mark and hard, a little red where she had shot him on their past hunt but delicious anyways.

"I thought you'll be with that woman" Jo said.

"Grace? No she had a meting, but maybe when she gets back" Dean informed her.

"Well I'm done with my chores so I'll be in my room"

"Actually I have another thing for you to do, from now you are also in charge of… - he said picking up a big black bag – laundry"

"What? But…" Jo began, but then decided against it.

"Now if you excuse me I'm going to take a shower" Dean said and entered the bathroom.

_Ok that's it!_ Jo thought and dropped the bag, then she took all sheets, pillows and cushions, curtains and towels and threw them in the closet, the she turned the key and put the key safely in his pocket, the only thing in the room left was Dean's jacket on his mattress and the clothes he was wearing inside the bathroom. Jo quietly opened the door. Dean was behind the shower's closed slide doors, without making any sound she grabbed his pants, underwear and all the towels inside. She backed away and closed the door carefully. She threw the towels inside the closet and locked it. She picked up the clothes bag and the leather jacket and went to the motel's laundry. She washed everything except the jacket. She put all the machines in the slowest cycle, and went back to Dean's room.

Dean turned off the water and slide the door open. He was surprised to see there were no towels. More when he didn't see his clothes. He could swear he had left his pants in the middle of the bathroom. Then it came to his mind, like a car right in front of him and speeding to run him over._ JO!_ Frantically, he opened the bathroom door and walked into the room. He felt as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water to his face, everything was gone, bed covers, sheets, pillows, even the curtains were gone. "Bitch!" he cursed.

He heard a horrible known click and looked at the window. Jo had taken a picture with her cell phone. "Looking for something?" she said showing him she was wearing his jacket.

Covering himself with his hands Dean screamed "Give me my clothes back!"

Jo placed her finger on her lips and innocently looked up pretending to think "Come and get them" she finally said.

"You think I won't?" Dean threatened.

Jo smiled "Nah I really think you won't"

Dean ran to the door, berserk form her challenge. He opened the door and looking if no one was around, he stepped outside. "Where are my clothes?"

"You said to do laundry" Jo said with a way too innocent smile.

"You little blond bitch!" Dean said with grind teeth.

"Oh hi Grace" Jo said and waved.

Dean turned scared and saw nobody was there. He stood confused for a second. Then he heard the click again. "Man I didn't really think you'd fell for that one"

"You're dead!" Jo could see Dean's eyes, they were on fire. Dean sprang into a run. He didn't care if he was naked he just wanted to made her pay. Jo ran too, but with an ear to ear smile written across her face. They passed the motel rooms; one of them had a rolled newspaper in front. Dean picked it up as he ran and wrapped it around his waist. Sam had gone for a walk, he was returning to the motel when he saw Jo running towards him and not far behind her he saw Dean, barefoot, shirtless and using some kind of newspaper underwear. Jo grabbed Sammy and hid behind him. Dean caught up to them.

"What the hell is going on here?" Sam asked confused.

"She took my clothes!" Dean told him.

"He's being an ass!" Jo screamed back.

"Look I don't care who did what, Dean you're done with the stupid chores thing and you – he turned to Jo – you're giving him his clothes back"

"Oh no, I'm gonna kill her first!" Dean said and reached for her, but Jo placed Sam between them.

"Nobody's killing anybody! Now … Dean you go back to your room, Jo will bring your clothes back" Sam's look was definitive. Cursing under his breath Dean went back to his room. Ten minutes later, Jo knocked.

She brought a pile clean and folded clothes, with Dean's jacket on top, setting them on Dean's bare bed she said "We're even" she was heading to the door, "Oh yeah I almost forgot" she opened the closet revealing all the stuff she had hidden form the oldest Winchester. She went to the door "Sleep tight" she said with an extremely happy tone of voice, leaving the two brothers alone. Dean changed and stayed silent for a long time.

"Looks like your great plan back fired" Sam said laughing a little.

"Oh no… - Dean moved his head form left to right – This isn't over yet"

"Come on Dean let it be, as she said you're even"

"No, no we are no even not just yet" Dean said angry and jumped out of bed.

"Hey just so you know I'm not gonna split you up again" Sam threatened.

"You're not gonna have to, I'll just make it even then it's over" Dean assured him.

Dean went to Jo's room he listened outside the door, nothing. The lights were on. He peeked through the window, Jo wasn't in sight. He picked the lock and let himself in. He approached the bathroom door and put his ear against it. He heard the shower and the sweet melody of pay back. He took his phone and set the camera, slowly turned the doorknob and stepped in. He stood quietly in front of the shower door, and with a single quick move, he slid the door open and took the picture. Jo covered herself but wasn't fast enough, she screamed and threw the soap to Dean, but the Winchester was too fast and already gone.

"Now we're even!" He screamed back.

Jo washed off the soap, cut the water off and walked to the door to put the chain on. This was far from even. She would get him. She just had to think how. An idea hit her when she was putting on her clothes. She set her alarm clock. She'd have to wake up early, if it went right, it would be worth it.

The next morning, Jo woke up very early, grabbed a small case and went to the boy's room. Both of them were fast asleep, she approached Dean, she was being the most careful, quiet and gentle she had ever been. She opened her case and carried on her plan. When she finally thought it was good enough she grabbed all her stuff and escaped the scene of the crime.

Sam woke up first. He went to the bathroom, then grabbed his jacket and put on his shoes.

"Wake up Dean" without looking he threw a pillow to his brother. Dean complained but stood up, he was like a zombie. As happy as he was last night he hadn't been able to fall asleep until early in the morning. He entered the bathroom to take his morning leak. "I'll get going" Sam screamed to his brother.

"Yeah, yeah I'll catch up" Dean yelled back still half asleep.

After Sammy was gone he grabbed his jacket and followed. He closed the door and ran to catch on with Sammy. He finally did right at the dinner's doors "Sammy wait up!" he called. Sam turned and his eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets when he saw his big brother.

Dean noticed Sam's look and began before Sam could talk. "I know I look like crap, but it's because I didn't sleep well last night" Before Sam could reply to that, the diner's doors opened. Grace was coming out. As soon as he saw her Dean made his move "Hi Grace, what do you say if we spend some time together now that that horrible and boring business meting is over huh?"

Grace looked at him and cracked a smile "Yeah I don't think so Dean" she said sweeping him with her eyes and moving along.

Dean stood paralyzed with confusion "What the hell just happened? Yesterday she was totally into me" he asked his brother.

"Well if you had let me talk, you'd known you look like a… I think is better to show you" Sam took him to the dinner's bathroom.

Dean screamed as he saw his reflection in the mirror. He was speechless for a long moment. His face, his eyes were painted a dark blue shadow and there was a thick line of eye liner on them, his lips were a bright glossy vermilion colour and his cheeks, there was excessive pink blush on them. He splashed water all over his face, but the make up was water prove.

"It won't come off" he said splashing more water to his face and rubbing it.

The bathroom door opened. It was Jo with a bright smile on her face and a packet of paper towels on her hand. She placed the paper towels on the sink. "Now – she remarked the word – we are even"

Dean cleaned his face, he thought about chasing Jo again but decided he'll get her back some other how, for now he would have breakfast, he'll think of something later.

"It was pretty dammed fun you got to give that to her" Sam spoke breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"It wasn't that fun" Dean said in a low voice.

"Come on Dean, if it were me you'll be still laughing"

"No I wouldn't" Dean lied; dammed right he still be laughing.

When he was done with his breakfast he returned to his room, but in his way back he peeked through Jo's window again, she was asleep, "You didn't sleep because of your little prank huh?" he whispered to himself.

Quickly he went to get a bucket half filled with ice, the other half he filled with water. The motel beds had a particular structure; the head rest had a thin wooden board that hanged just above your head while you sleep. Dean knew this because he had bumped his head twice since he had been in this hotel. He carefully placed the bucket on the wooden board above Jo's head. He set the alarm clock to the highest volume and to ring in five minutes, more than enough for him to happily flee to his room. He got to his room and put the chain on the door. Sammy was on his bed reading a paperback novel.

"You know you're both acting like little kids" He said without taking his eyes off the book.

"I'm not being a kid, I'm just being fair" Dean said keeping a smile at bay.

The five minute lapse passed rather quickly and all of the sudden they heard a scream coming from the other room. Ten seconds later Jo knocked on their door, three hard, loud and angry knocks. Dean took a deep breath and put on an innocent face. He opened the door as far as the chain allowed.

"Can I help you?" he asked holding with all his being to crack a laugh. She was wet and dripping, her skin was curled and trembling, and best of all she had the most annoyed gaze.

"You! you…you…you…" Jo was so angry she couldn't end the sentence.

"You know the wet t-shit contest is not until spring break" Dean said as if he was talking to a child.

"You know I'm about to kick your ass?" Jo yelled at him.

"You'll have to stop trembling first" Dean said mockingly. Jo punched the door but it didn't move. "Ahh they say revenge is better served cold but hell you know that better than me" before she could reply Dean closed the door on her face, Jo kicked the door and turned to leave when the door opened again. "Jo!" Dean called.

"What?"

"We're even… and nice nipples by the way" he said with a full teeth smile and locked the door again. Jo made a growl looked at her clothes, you could see through them, and kicked the door again.

_You wanted Dean you've got it… it's on_ Jo thought and went to her room to dry off.

It was a very hot day and he kind of envied Jo for the cold water, he turned the fan to it's full speed, took off his pants, they were leaving tomorrow morning and Sam had gone to buy some supplies, he turned the TV on and got himself a couple of cool beers, _This is just what I needed_ he thought.

Jo also went to the store to get supplies but not the same as Sam. She went to the hardware store and bought some thick and strong silver duck tape. Then she returned to the motel, Sam was on his way back too.

He looked at Jo then at the tape the back at Jo "Why don't you just let it go?" He asked afraid of what she had planned for that duck tape.

"He started it, he's being a jerk and for no reason at all" Jo defended herself.

"Well as I told Dean I don't want to know, I won't stand on your way" Sam said and entered his room.

Dean had fallen asleep, finally after two sleepless nights, he just needed some relaxation. Jo entered behind Sam, and got to work. First she checked Dean was sleeping deeply, and since he was mumbling in his sleep, she thought it was pretty safe. She also saw Dean was sleeping in his boxers and that he had had a couple of beers. The situation couldn't be better if she had planned herself. She cut a long strand of tape, with a mischievous smile.

"What are you doing?" Sam whispered.

"Shhh, you said you wouldn't get in our way" Jo reminded him.

Sam exhaled deeply, he did say that, he sat on his bed and continued reading his book. Jo carefully pasted the duck tape strand on Dean's leg. She did this many times until finally both of Dean's legs were completely covered with silver tape, form his ankles to where his boxers reached.

When she was done she took one final look at her job, then she looked at Sam. He looked at Dean then back to Jo and moved his head left to right. "He's going to murder you" Jo didn't replied, she just went back to her room.

When Dean woke up it was dark. He stretched his arms and legs, but his legs hurt as he did so. He turned on the nightstand lamp and saw why. He couldn't believe it, his legs were completely wrapped with duck tape. He tried to fold his legs but the tape pulled his skin and it stung like hell. It wasn't an intolerable physical pain, but a straight kick in his pride, Jo had gotten back at him and she had gotten him good. Still he couldn't comprehend it, usually when he slept, the lowest sound would wake him, and now Jo had not only being in his room but also she had taped him? It was just insane. He grabbed the tip of one of the tape strands and gave it a hard pull up, it was pretty long so it came out until half. He swallowed the scream that had built in his throat. The doorknob rattled, _Crap she's coming to watch the show_ Dean thought and started ripping the tape off of his right leg, it hurt but there was no chance he would give her the satisfaction of hearing him scream. He was tearing the last strand when Sam walked in.

"Oh you're awake" He said as if nothing were wrong. Dean waited for him to say something about his leg that was now, as red as a tomato or about his other covered with tape.

When Sam said nothing and just grabbed his bags and started packing Dean said "Yeah just doing some last minute waxing… - Sam give him nothing but a slight nod - Aren't you curious about it?"

"No…it's just you and Jo and your stupid pranks" Sam said.

"You knew she had done this, didn't you?" Dean asked.

"Yep"

"Did you try to stop her?"

"Nope"

"Why the hell no?"

"Because I told you I wasn't going to participate in your stupid game" Sam reminded him.

Taking a deep breath, he moved to his left leg, he pulled the strands as fast as the ones on his right leg, just not as frantically as when he thought Jo was coming. This time he did curse as he ripped off every strand, he tried to keep it low though. When he finished the last strand of tape he put on his pants and went for the door.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked.

"Oh I'm going to kick her out alright… there is no way in hell she's coming with us tomorrow" Dean explained.

"Why not?"

A small laugh escaped Dean's throat "Why not? She wrapped my legs in duck tape, she made me look like an idiot with Grace and she left me naked for half a day!"

"Sure but you were being an ass with her, so you kind of deserved it"

"What? What side are you on?" Nobody's I'm just saying were facing the apocalypse and she is a good hunter"

"I'm still kicking her out" Dean said and left, slamming the door behind him.

Jo was on her room setting her bag ready, she had heard some of Dean's curses, honestly she had hoped for more but she guessed Dean had had worst wounds in his life to scream like a little girl at some duck tape as she had expected to. There were two hard knocks on her door. She opened it and received Dean with the same innocent smile he had used when she was soaked in cold water.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm just here to tell you that you're not coming with us tomorrow" Dean said calmly

"Oh I think I am" Jo said confident.

"Think whatever you want, but I'm not letting you into my car"

"Really? Is that so?" Jo challenged

"Yeah" Dean turned and was ready to leave.

"Well I guess I'll have to let myself in" she said rattling Dean's keys.

Dean's eyes grew an inch wider to that sound. He felt his pockets in hopes that she was bluffing, then he remembered he had given her the keys when he had asked her to clean the weapons. Jo laughed but then she saw Dean's expression. She ran away from the door. Dean charged at the door. Jo had forgotten to put the chain so it swung open. The bed was between them, Dean jumped and tried to grab her, but Jo ran around the bed, they only switched sides. Finally after a while of pointless chase Dean grabbed Jo's shirt and she fell on the bed. Dean grabbed her legs and pulled her to the door, Jo held a tight grip on the bed, but Dean was stronger. He dragged her outside. They were yelling and fighting each other for the Impala keys as kids for a new toy. Sam saw everything form the window, until he had enough. He went outside and separated them.

"Ok that's enough!" Sam screamed "We're gonna settle this now and for once" Dean and Jo started screaming at each other ignoring Sam "One at a time!" Sam screamed louder than them and finally got their attention "Jo ladies first" He said holding his brother.

"Right… he's been a dick ever since I joined…"

"Yeah well…" Dean interrupted.

"It's Jo's turn you'll get your chance" Sam said with an authoritarian tone.

"You invented those stupid chores just to get rid of me" Jo accused.

"Dean" Sam said to give him the word.

"She's a pain in the ass, we work alone and don't need her help" Dean defended.

"You're so full of it Dean, you think of yourself as a big hot shot and…"

"You're a little girl with a knife playing hunter…"

"You're an arrogant jerk who thinks everyone should do what you say…"

"Yeah well you're a real bitch…"

Again they ignored Sam was in between them and started fighting. Sam pulled their hair to break them apart. They stopped and brought a hand to their heads where Sammy was almost ripping off their scalps.

"You two are going to come with me and we're going to put an end to all this" He said dragging them across the street and into the bar in front of the motel. Once inside he sat them at the bar and let go of them. "Two shot's please" Sam ordered. He looked at Dean and Jo "You know what I think? I think you're as arrogant, annoying and stupid as the other. Both of you are equally stubborn and this little game you've been playing is going to last forever and I'm not going to put up with that. So we're settling it, the one who drinks more shots wins – Jo and Dean exchanged a surprised look – If Jo wins, she'll come with us for as long as she wants, if Dean wins he'll have the power to kick her out whenever he wishes" Sam stared at them saying _Deal?_.

Dean looked at Jo then at his brother "Fine by me I'll more than willing to drink her off of our heads, won't be an interesting fight of course" He said proud of himself.

Jo laughed "Sorry to burst you're bubble but I grew on a bar…I can kick you're as at drinking any time"

"So start" Sammy challenged them.

Dean grabbed the small glass and shoved it down in one big gulp Jo drank it too and set the glass hard on the counter. Their discussion had called the attention of the few customers the bar had, all eyes where on Dean and Jo. Sam nodded to the bartender and he refilled the glasses.

Time passed, drinks passed and they were still standing but they were a lot nicer to each other now Sam had to give them that. He was having fun, watching his brother and Jo hang out without arguing or fighting. And best of all he got to take pictures.

The next morning Dean woke up in the floor of his room, his mouth taste horrible and he could hear his heart pumping in his head and an annoying beeping sound in his ears. He had to lean on the wall to stand up and to stay there. He looked around, the room was awfully shiny. Sam's bed was unmade, on his Jo was still asleep, she had her arm around a pillow and her hair looked messy and sticky. Dean made his way to the bathroom, every step he took felt like an earthquake in his head. He leaned on the sink and looked at the mirror, besides that someone had drawn in his face, he looked as bad as he felt, his eyes were red, his shirt was stained with God know what and he was missing a shoe. He was splashing some water to his face when with quick footsteps Jo rushed into the bathroom and kneeled next to the toilet. She threw up, she felt worst than crap, and she couldn't remember of anything from last night. Dean leaned on the sink in case he started puking too but there was nothing in his stomach to throw up. The front door opened as Sam came to check on them.

"So I see you two are awake" He said to Dean using a louder tone of voice than necessary that made Dean's eyes shut as a bolt of pain crossed his head.

"Oh I feel like shit" Dean said to no one in particular.

"Well just hurry up would you guys? All the stuff is in the car and we need to get going" Sam told them.

"Are you crazy?" Jo said standing up. She had nothing left to throw up even when it didn't exactly felt like that.

"Yeah we aren't exactly ready to hit the road you know" Dean pointed out.

"And whose fault is that?" Sam asked.

"Yours" Jo replied.

"No I just appealed to the stupid and stubborn side you both have, you drink all those drinks on your own" Sam remarked "So you – Sam pointed at Jo - go to your room and take a shower and you – he pointed at Dean – stay there and clean yourself too and then both of you join me in the dinner, there's something I want to show you"

They did as they were told and twenty minutes later they went to the dinner to see what was what Sammy wanted to show them. Jo noticed two guys looking at her in a strange way on their way there. They sat with Sam and ordered some coffee. Sam had his laptop opened in front of him, he turned so they could look at it.

"I'm assuming you don't remember a single thing form last night" Sam began. Dean and Jo nodded and he continued "Well I took some pictures which I'm gonna show you in a moment and I'm also going to blackmail you, if you don't get along from now on I'll send this to every hunter and people you now in the whole country" Without giving them time to respond he clicked on his laptop and the slide show began.

The first picture was ok, it was merely a picture of Dean and Jo having a shot. Sam clicked on the laptop again. Dean and Jo were laughing, they seemed pretty drunk now. Click. Jo was standing up from the stool she had been sitting on. Dean was putting a glass down. Click. Jo apparently had lost her balance and hit the floor. Dean was laughing. Dean laughed a little when he saw this picture. Click. Dean was drinking a shot while hugging a chubby man with a sweatshirt and a bad haircut. Click. Dean and Jo had a shot in each hand. Click. Dean and Jo were kissing, not any kind of kiss it was obvious that they had each others tongue in their mouths.

"Ewww he kissed me?" Jo complained.

"Actually you kissed him" Sam corrected her.

With a funny look Dean "You see you want me but you are just afraid to admit it" Jo gave him a slap in his back, that brought back some of the pain to his head.

Click. Dean was puking in a trash can. Jo was having another drink by the bar. Click. Dean was kissing Jo again. There was a weird looking stain in his shirt.

"Ewww" Jo said again this time she sounded truly disgusted.

"Now he kissed you" Sam informed her.

Dean laughed at Jo's reaction "Told ya"

Click. Dean was kissing the chubby guy in the sweatshirt. It wasn't like Jo's kiss, there wasn't any tongue but it was a kiss alright.

Jo laughed "Guess you weren't afraid of admit you like that guy" Jo mocked.

"Erase that thing!" Dean said to his brother.

Sam ignored him. Click. Dean, Jo and the fat guy were having more drinks. Dean was in the middle hugging both. Click. Dean had his pants half down. He didn't seem to mind tough he was laughing and had a drink in his hand.

"I see London, I see France…"Jo mocked.

Click. Jo was standing on the bar, with a drink and pulling her shirt up.

Dean laughed "Nice"

Just as she saw this Jo's jaw dropped and she tried to grab the computer but Dean slapped her hand away. "If mine stays so does yours"

Again Sammy just sat quietly. Click. Dean and Jo were passed out on a table. Click. The next picture showed Sammy with a big smile and holding a magic marker. Click. Sam was drawing what looked like a moustache on Jo's face.

"Hey!" Jo complained.

Click. Sam was now drawing on Dean's face. Click. The three of them, Sam in the middle and holding them up for the picture with their faces drawn. Click. The last picture showed Sam helping Jo to their room and the chubby guy helping Dean.

Dean gave his brother a pissed look "What? He was more than willing to help" Sam explained "So are you going to make peaces?" Sam asked.

Dean and Jo exchanged a look "Fine" they answered at the same time.

"Good" Sam said picked up his laptop "We're leaving then"

"Wait Sammy – Dean stopped him – we're cool and everything – he said looking at Jo – but…Who won?"

Sam looked at them and after a suspenseful pause he finally said "Jo"

"What?" Dean asked while Jo celebrated.

"You puke, she didn't" Sam said casually.

"She puked too" Dean accused.

"Yeah until this morning" Sam said and left the dinner.

Dean and Jo climbed in the Impala after exiting the dinner. Jo was on the backseat with her head resting back. Dean leaned his on the dashboard. Sam was checking if they hadn't left anything in the rooms, he climbed in the driver's seat and turned the key, the noisy engine of the car made Jo and Dean's head rattle in pain. Sam smiled, he knew they wouldn't fight again, or at least not any time soon, anyways, and drove.


	4. The Bigger the Fool the Bigger the Fall

**Disclaimer:** I don't own supernatural.

They arrived early into town, as Sam had expected Dean and Jo hadn't fight anymore, Dean still didn't want Jo with them but he had been a good sport so far, no more pranks or jokes. They had travelled for a couple of days and Sam had found them a job.

"So what's this about?" Dean asked.

"Clyde Carr a school teacher went mute for apparently no reason" Sam explained.

"Seriously? We're looking into that?" Dean asked.

"A week before him Lenora Montgomery went mute too… she killed herself five days later - Dean shoot his brother a look - we've looked into less" Sam explained.

They were on their way to the hospital to speak (not literally) to Mr. Carr. They entered a bright white room, Mr Carr was sitting in his bed, fighting with the remote control batteries.

"Mr. Carr? Sam asked. Mr Carr looked up; he saw them then turned his eyes towards Jo. He had a small black board and a piece of chalk in his lap. He grabbed it quickly and wrote: "Can I help you?" His eyes scanned Jo as if she were a delicious candy cane. With all her will Jo tolerated Mr Carr look.

"I'm Doctor Bennett – Jo introduced herself – Drs Tyler and Perry – Jo said pointing at Sam and Dean – we're with the Center for Disease Control"

Mr Carr wiped his blackboard and quickly wrote: "Nice to meet you agent Bennett" the guy was almost drooling.

Dean noticed the guy was getting into Jo's nerves so he spoke "We're looking into your case and we were hoping we could ask you some questions"

Finally the guy looked at Dean then wrote in his board: "Think is contagious?"

"Maybe" Dean answered. The guy's gaze was back on Jo.

"Mr. Carr, What were you doing when you lost your voice?" Sam intervened.

He erased his little board again and wrote in small letters: "Teaching"

"Did anything out of the ordinary happen?" Sam asked.

The guy wrote fast: "Not that I recall"

"Nothing at all?" Jo asked.

Mr. Carr immediately looked at her and wrote: "Nothing I was yelling at a kid and a sec later my voice was gone" _And you're incredibly hot_ he thought that last part but didn't wrote it down.

"Thanks for your time, we'll be in touch" Dean added and they left. Mr Carr gaze followed Jo until she left the room.

Back in the car Jo was able to let it out "My God what a creep!"

Sam and Dean understood her, the guy was a total creep. They decided to split up Sam and Dean would go check Lenora's body while Jo went to see what she could find out of that disgusting creep.

She arrived at the school to interview the principal and some of the students, as she walked the halls she remembered the time she had spent in school and how much she had hated it, she didn't fit in no matter how much she tried to, all the other kids used to treat her like a freak, even the weird kids that were the very rejects of school society had more friends than her, she had gotten in trouble once or twice for hitting one of the cheerleaders after a prank they'd play on her. She also recalled a day she wish she could forget, the day she quitted for good, one of the kids that bugged her all the time, had seen she carried a folding knife in her pocket, the one that belonged to her father, the principal a tiny man that believed himself as the king of the school, but only because his life outside school was miserable, had been looking for a reason to finally kick her out of his dominion, so the annoying guy told on her about the knife and she was expelled. Her mother had been mad as hell, but she managed to put her foot down, she wasn't going to put her feet on any other school ever again, and she didn't, until now. She found the principal's office and showed her fake credentials.

"My God is what Clyde has contagious?" Principal Harris asked freaked out.

"Not so far but we need more information" Jo replied.

Sighting with relieve Mr. Harris proceeded "What would you like to know?"

"Well let's start by what's Mr Carr like?" _besides of a disgusting roach_ Jo thought

"He's great, he teaches Biology, he is great with the kids… I don't know what else to say?"

"Was he acting any differently when it happened or the days before?"

"I really can't say about the day it happened, I had an important meeting that day and didn't saw him until after it happened, but I understand he was being the same old Clyde"

"I understand he was scolding a student when he went mute"

"Yeah Oliver Willis a real smartass"

"Could I talk to him?"

"Sure, anything you need Dr Bennett" He summoned Oliver to his room and in ten minutes a black haired kid appeared at the door, he had deep brown eyes and white skin. He stepped into the office. He looked at the principal, then at Jo and believed he was in trouble.

"Look Mr Harris I don't know what you've heard but I been…" he began and was interrupted.

"I didn't call you for that" Mr Harris said seriously "This is Dr Bennett she's here to ask you some questions about Mr Carr"

The kid looked at Jo and waited.

"Actually Mr Harris, do you mind if we talk in private?" Jo said looking back at the kid.

"Sure but I don't see why…" he began but Jo interrupted him.

"Let's get some fresh air huh Oliver?" she said standing up and going for the door the boy followed her.

"If you need anything don't hesitate asking" Mr Harris called from his office.

They went outside. The football team was training on the field yards in front of them.

"So what do you want to know?"

"Well let me start by saying I met Mr Carr and he isn't such a great person as your principal said"

"Tell me about it he's a total freak…he's always taking pictures of girls you know? ...pervert" Oliver explained as he walked.

"What happened the day he lost his voice?" Jo asked him.

"Well… one moment he was yelling at me and the next one his lips are moving but words aren't coming out"

"Why was he yelling at you?" Jo asked curious.

"I erased the pictures in his camera, he went berserk said they were photos for the yearbook, but that's bull, he's a freak and a pervert and everybody knows that even Mr Harris, he's just too lazy to get off his ass and do something"

"Did you notice anything strange before the class?"

"Not really, before class I saw him by the gym taking pictures of the girls in the volleyball team, so he was pretty normal"

"Huh" Jo nodded.

"Well there was one thing…when he entered the classroom and was setting his stuff, I felt this chill you know, I don't know it was weird, I'd swear I could see my breath…but maybe I'm going crazy I mean this time of the year and suddenly is so cold I can see my breath?" He said honestly.

"I don't think you're crazy, I've seen some pretty weird stuff myself" Jo confessed.

They returned to the building, Oliver went back to class and Jo went back to their motel but first she stopped by the public library.

Dean and Sam went to the morgue first. They were pretty used to this kind of place by now. They showed an old short Doctor with incredibly thick glassed their credentials and he let them to the body they requested.

"I don't know how much more stupid can people get with TV these days?" the doctor said with a rough voice as he slowly pulled out the body form the storage.

"Beg your pardon?" Sam said.

"The person who did it, it was dumber than hell" the old doctor said.

"The person who did it? It was a suicide wasn't it?" Sam asked.

"Well you were told wrong. Ha! Suicide my ass!" the old guy laughed.

He showed them the body of Lenora Montgomery, she had light brown hair and a long nose, she was pale, but most impressive were her wrist, they were cut to the bone, two deep and long upward cuts, one in each hand.

"The nerves were cut… she could have done one but the other? Let alone the pain and the blood lost, she couldn't have moved her arm to cut the remaining one" the doctor explained although it was pretty clear to the Winchesters that she couldn't have done it when they first looked at the wounds.

"So what's the story?" Sam asked the old man.

"Hmm – the man growled grabbing Lenora's file – approximate time of death 4:30 pm, found her in the bathroom…" He began reading and handed the file to Sam.

"What about her voice?" Dean asked the doctor.

"What about it?" He replied confused.

"She couldn't speak, lost her voice suddenly and without and explanation" Dean explained.

"They didn't tell me any of that" The doctor explained.

They thanked the doctor and left. Next stop the Montgomery's house. They arrived to a small but beautiful house with a big very good taken care of garden. Dean parked the Impala in front of it, they walked to the door and rang the bell. A middle aged man opened the door, he had a military hair cut and wore a flannel shirt. He was confused to see the brothers, he didn't know them.

"Yes?"

"Hello, Mr Montgomery?" Sam asked.

"Yes" he repeated when he heard his name.

"We're with the CDC we're looking into your wife's case – Sam explained – we wanted to ask you some questions"

"Sure hmm come on in" he said and stepped away from the door.

The house looked great, clean and neat, he led them to a small living room, they sat in a long brown couch and Mr. Montgomery sat in a wooden chair in front of them.

"Nice house" Sam commented.

"Thanks is… my brother and sister in law came… you know to help me with the kid and the arrangements… she cleaned up" he explained.

"Mr. Montgomery – Sam started – did you notice anything estrange about your wife?"

"Yeah, she lost her voice five days before"

"How that happened?" Dean asked.

"I don't know really, we were having a snack and she just shut up…never talked again"

"What happened after it?"

"Honestly? ... – he asked mostly to himself – the best five days of my life, I took her to the hospital but they couldn't find anything so I brought her back home… my wife she… we didn't had exactly the best relationship – he took a deep breath – we were getting divorce, don't get me wrong… I loved her once, but those five days she couldn't talk, that we couldn't argue… it was… calm"

"The doctors couldn't find what was wrong?" Sam continued.

"Nope"

"And you're sure there was nothing weird with her when or before it happened?"

"Nothing at all, she was being the same old bitch" He said with a smile.

After Dean asked to use the restroom and searched the house for signs of something supernatural they thank Mr Montgomery and left. As they were going out a car pulled in the driveway. A younger man with dark brown hair came out of it with some paper bags.

"Hey is everything all right?" he asked confused.

"Yeah we were just asking Mr Montgomery, some questions" Sam explained showing his ID.

"What kind of questions?" The guy asked.

"About his wife… and you are?"

He gave the Winchesters a mean stare "I'm Eric, John's brother" he said pointing at the house.

Sam gave him a suspicious look "What can you tell us about what happened to Lenora?"

"Nothing I wasn't here but if you're trying to pin it on my brother you're lost 'cause the whole block was with him that day"

"Really?" Dean asked.

"Dammed right, it was the neighbour's barbeque"

"She was mute for apparently no explainable reason and they went to a barbeque?" Dean asked.

"That woman was all about calling attention, she was the hot gossip of the barbeque"

"You don't seem so shaken about her death" Dean said coldly.

"Should I? Look as far as I'm concern that bitch killed herself, the only thing she did good in her life, she was the worst wife and mother I've know… my little nephew almost died once because she left him unattended in the bathtub…she'd stepped outside for a smoke… she cheated on John and everyone in this town knows it… So am I sad? ... Not at all" he let it out angrily.

They made it back to their car driving back to their motel Dean told Sam what he had found out in the house.

"It's a ghost Sammy"

"Ghost?"

"When I stepped into the bathroom the EMF went nuts"

"Let's find out whose it is and burn it"

When they got to the motel they found Jo already looking for any suspicious deaths. After sharing what they had found out talking to the Montgomery's and the school principal. Jo showed them what she had found out this far.

"Similar deaths all the way to 1950, one every five years, victims lost their voice, and five days later they killed themselves" Jo said handing Sam a bunch of copies.

"Where did you get these" Sam asked.

"The library"

"I going to get us something to eat" Dean said and left.

Sam was reading some of the cases Jo had found when she said "Huh?" surprised.

"What? Found anything?" Sam asked taking his eyes of the paper he was reading.

"Think so, Larry Gray, a twenty year old singer, disappeared after recovering from an operation"

"And?"

"He left a suicide note apparently the operation had gone wrong – Jo read further – the doctor that operated him had been drunk while performing the surgery, he was charged with negligence and medical malpractice and went to prison"

"Does it say something else?" Sam asked.

"No, that's all"

Sam grabbed his laptop. He began to type very fast and after twenty minutes he had got it. "Here… Dr Frank Walker admitted into prison in 1952, after being found guilty of negligence and malpractice – Sam kept reading – found dead in his prison cell, he was stabbed in the stomach, bleed to death"

"I think Larry is our ghost"

"Why?"

"There aren't any deaths before him and I don't know, what if the surgery left him mute, that would have ruin his career, his life"

"It makes sense but it just says he killed himself by hanging himself from the bathroom shower" Sam agreed.

"Yeah but is not like we have other suspects…what I still don't get is why? What all these people had in common – Jo said grabbing the victim's files – why them?"

Sam flipped through some of them. Dean returned with the food and they shared with him what they thought.

"If it is a ghost we need to know where he is buried" Jo began.

"What about this" Sam said placing some files in the bed "1965 Fred Woods charged with fraud, 1970 Aaron Barnes's shop is closed for selling alcohol to minors, 1985 officer of the law found guilty of bribery and corruption"

"So?" Jo asked.

"So Lenora Montgomery, bad mother and wife, and Clyde Carr not exactly teacher of the year"

"None of those were doing their jobs properly" Dean said.

"Bingo" Sam replied.

"But what about the timing, usually was one every five years, why two now?"

"I don't know with all that's going on maybe the spirit is becoming stronger"

"Does it say where is Larry buried?" Jo asked.

"No guess we have to find out that"

"Lets eat before going graveyard digging ok?" Dean said and passed the Chinese food he had bought.

After eating they were on their way to the cemetery when Jo's phone rang, she picked it up.

"Hello?" … "Really?" "Oh…huh thanks for letting me know" She hanged up "That was the hospital Mr Carr killed himself"

"But it hasn't been five days since he lost his voice" Dean said.

"I know so what happened?"

"Maybe it's getting impatient" Sam suggested.

The graveyard was dark and big, they separated and looked for either a Larry Gray reading gravestone or an unmarked one. They found two unmarked graves. They dig up the first one, Sam's shovel hit the coffin, they backed out leaving Sammy to open it. When Sam lifted the lid a cloud of early decay hit his face, he turned away from it and tried not to breathe. This was definitely not Larry, the body was of an old woman and it was in the very early stages of decay, her skin was decomposing but still visible, her hair was curly and white. Sam climbed out of the grave and they filled it up again. They dig the other grave, this time Dean opened it, inside the wooden coffin there were only old bones.

"You think that's Larry?" Dean asked he was covered in dirt and sweat.

"I don't know but burning him can't hurt" Sam concluded throwing salt at the bones. They set him on fire and refilled the tomb.

"How do we know if it worked out?" Jo asked.

"Guess we wait a day or two" Sam told her.

"Well I don't know about you but I'm beat, I need a shower and some sleep" Dean told them and they returned to the motel.

Dean took a quick shower and dropped himself on his bed, he closed his eyes and quickly felt into a slight but comfortable sleep. Jo was in the room next to them, she had also showered and changed her clothes and was ready to get some sleep, she was brushing her teeth in the bathroom, she spit on the sink and looked at her reflection, suddenly she felt cold, she exhaled and saw her breath, she ran out of the bathroom to where she had put her bag but she tripped with something and fell. When she rolled on her back she saw him, Larry Gray, he was standing in the bathroom doorway, he was blond, had long hair and blue eyes, Jo hold his gaze for a moment then turned to reach her bag, she grabbed her shotgun but Larry had already teleported and was on top of her now, Jo heard a low but rough growl coming from his throat, he grabbed her neck and mumbled something she couldn't make out, she finally got a good grip on her shotgun and fired point blank at the ghost, Larry dissolved in the air, Jo stay on the floor breathing hard.

The shotgun blast was what woke Dean up, he jumped out of bed and met his brother's gaze for a very slight moment, he was thinking the same as him, it had come from Jo's room. They rushed out, Dean kicked open the door, they found Jo lying on the floor with her shotgun pointing up. Dean kneeled next to her.

"Are you ok?" He asked concerned while Sam inspected the room.

"Clear" Sam said and joined his brother.

Dean helped Jo straightened up, she tried to say "I'm ok" but no sound came out of her, realizing of this Jo placed her hands around her throat scared.

"You're mute aren't you? Sam asked already knowing the answer. Jo simply nodded and kept her gaze on the floor.

"Don't worry we'll find the son of a bitch" Dean assured her.

"Guess the body we burned wasn't Larry" Sam said disappointed.

"Guess not" Dean agreed.

Jo moved her hand in front of them trying to say something "Wait" Dean said and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from the nigh table "Here" he handed them to her and she wrote: "What do we do now?"

"I think you should sleep in our room… so we can keep and eye on you" Dean said helping her to her feet.

Jo went to their room. They stayed up late trying to find out where Larry could have been buried. Sam and Jo were working on their laptops; Dean was salting the windows and doors. When he finished he loaded his shotgun with salt rock and sat on his bed next to Jo. He looked at her, she was worried, she typed and read as fast as she could, desperately looking for a clue that could lead them to where the body was buried. Dean noticed and took the computer away from her. Jo gave him a confused look.

"Sam and I'll look for this, try to get some rest" Dean told her.

She tried to take the computer back but Dean didn't give in. She managed to type: "I won't be able to"

"Try then 'cause I'm not giving it back" Dean said keeping the laptop out of Jo's reach so she couldn't type. She held Dean's gaze for a moment and saw the determination in his eyes. She laid her head in the pillow, closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

"This is actually cool, you're less annoying and stubborn" Dean joked and Jo slapped his arm.

Sam and Dean searched all night without any luck. Dean was as concentrated as Jo had been. "The library will open in two hours, I'm gonna get a coffee maybe you should try to get some sleep yourself" Sam said putting on his jacket and going out. Dean closed the laptop and set it aside within minutes he was out.

Jo woke up, she opened her eyes, she gazed around and saw it was morning, Sam was gone, and Dean, Dean had fallen asleep next to her, but what made her heart skip a beat in both sadness and happiness, was that Dean's arm was wrapped protectively around her, his hand was on her hand, and it felt good, it felt warm, it felt safe. He moved and Jo closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. Dean stretched and stood up, after he was off the bed Jo pretended waking up, she stretched too and rubbed her eyes.

"Hey" Dean said.

"Hi" Jo replied although no word came out but Dean understood and met her eyes.

"We're heading to the library, see if we can find any record of where the guy was buried" he said swallowing hard.

When Sammy got back they went to the library and read each and every one of the records they had of the 50's looking for something, anything. They worked all day, they didn't eat, didn't drink, they just read and search and got nothing, by the time the sun was setting, they had read through all the files, there was absolutely nothing related to Larry Gray. Defeated Jo went for a walk, she needed time to think, during their search Dean had asked Sam if he had any idea why the ghost had attacked her, Sammy said he didn't know and so did she, but she had a pretty good idea, she was a hunter who was selling out her friends to an arrogant turd that pulled rabbits out of hats, she felt suffocated, she was doomed but that wasn't as bad as she thought, she would die and would be useless to Nicholas, Dean and Sam would manage to hunt the son of a bitch and free her mother, and they would be fine, he would be fine. As if summoning him with her thought Dean caught up to her, and walked with her.

"Are you ok?" he asked. Jo didn't lift his gaze from the ground. "Don't worry we'll figure something up" He tried to cheer her up, Jo looked up she took a pen form her pocket and grabbed Dean's hand

"I thought you couldn't stand me" she wrote.

"I don't… but… I don't know I guess you're not so bad after all, specially when you don't talk so much"

She grabbed his hand again "That's 'cause you know I kick your ass with the pranks"

"Ha yeah right… you didn't had a chance, if it weren't for Sammy you'll be cursing me right now" he said.

"Come on… the laundry, you had to see that coming" She wrote next.

"In that case, come on... who goes to sleep after pranking the guy next door" Dean said laughing.

She grabbed his hand again. Her writing was invading his arm already and wrote "Jerk"

They walked in silence for a while when they got to the hotel they stopped and looked at each other, they looked like a couple of teenagers after a first date.

"I'll get some stuff from my room" she wrote grabbing his arm again.

"Yeah I'll go…wash my arm I guess" he said and turned to leave, Jo held her grip on his arm and stopped him, she wrote something else, Dean looked down to read it but Jo gave him a small kiss on the lips. Then she let go of him and entered her room. Dean stood there for a moment not knowing what to do, finally he looked at his arm it said "Thank you"

Jo closed the door behind her, she was about to analyze what just had happened when she heard a noise, she automatically grabbed her shotgun and raised it, turning she saw a face she hated with all her guts.

"Hi there" Benjamin greeted her.

_What are you doing here?_ She thought with her shotgun still raised.

"Easy with the claws Johanna, I'm here to help" he informed her.

Jo lowered her weapon although she didn't want to, and wrote in a piece of paper: "Help? How?"

"With your ghost…I know where he is body is" Benjamin said licking his lower lip.

"Where?" she wrote on the other side of the paper.

"Right down to it? I don't think so…why don't you ask the real question that came to your head – Jo stayed quiet so he kept on talking – why? You ask yourself why we bother helping?" Jo tried to keep her face straight but he knew, he knew exactly what was going on in her head. "You're important to us, is stupid actually I don't know why Nick's wasting his time, he should use just any other bastard, but he wants Dean Winchester, so we need you and there's no way we're letting you get killed" he explained as he walked around the room.

Jo still looked at him she didn't want to hear this so she remarked the "Where" she had written on the paper.

"Wait there's more – He said getting her impatience – I want you to know better than try anything funny or idiotic or suicidal, we're paying attention, we're watching you, and trust me you've done a great job so far… - he made a pause – I mean that walk with Dean, heart-melting" he said touching his chest.

"You bastard, son of a bitch" Jo screamed forgetting no word would come out and grabbed her shotgun.

Benjamin just laughed "Go ahead, it would only hurt Benji inside here" He approached and placed himself right in front of the cannon his black eyes were shinning in delight, there was a long pause, but Jo didn't pull the trigger.

"So the info on your ghost is in your computer, just act like you found it – He reached for her and caressed her cheek, Jo slapped his hand away – we'll be in touch…" he said and turned to leave "Oh and Johanna…remember: The bigger the fool, the harder the fall" He said without looking back then disappeared.

Jo fell on her knees and cried. She felt a strong disgust, not disgust didn't began to cover it, the felling of impotence was crushing and it made her ache, it hurt all the way to the deepest of her soul. She wept in complete silence for a minute or two then she picked herself up and cleaned her face, she got the stuff she had come for and went to the brother's room. Dean was coming out of the room, probably to look for her.

"There you are… I was staring to worry" he said. Jo just walk pass him.

She sat on the bed and turned on he laptop, Dean walked into the room and sat next to her, as soon as his body touched the bed, Jo stood up and went to sit to a chair by the window. Dean was confused she could see it but she didn't mind, Benjamin's word echoed in her head _The bigger the fool, the bigger the fall_, she could, at least, soft the fall a little. She found the information Benjamin had spoken of, and old factory were Larry's father worked, closed and abandoned just outside town, it was too son now, she would pretend to search harder for a while. In time Sam went to sleep and Dean took over his computer.

"Are you ok? You look…disturbed" he asked at last.

Jo grabbed a piece of paper and wrote she tossed to Dean, it said: "Really Einstein? Wouldn't that be because I might die here?" Dean's smile faded as he saw this.

"I'm just worried about you, you know?" Dean said disguising hurt with anger.

Jo picked up another paper and wrote she threw it at Dean, it fell on the bed next to him he opened it: "You don't need to I can take care of myself!" she could see it hurt him, she could see what was left of the happiness of their walk going off like the switch of a lamp in his eyes.

He didn't spoke to her again. After a reasonable period of time passed she threw him another paper standing up: "Found it"

Dean woke his brother up. They drove the Impala to the factory, they found him on the basement, mostly it was a skeleton with clothes, he had made of the place some kind of studio, there was an old record player and a guitar, surrounding the skeleton on the floor there was a big rusty and faded stain of blood that would stay forever on the wood boards, in his hand was an old silver knife. They salted and burned him. When the fire consumed him she regained her voice. They left town the next morning Sam driving, Jo in the passenger's seat and Dean in the back sleeping.


	5. Family Issues: Travis

**Disclaimer:** I don't own supernatural

They had stopped at a restaurant by the highway, it was raining hard, the air was chilly and there was a tenuous mist in the road. They decided to grab something to eat while the storm passed. There were a few people in the restaurant, most also waiting for the rain to stop. They found a table and ordered. These last days had been confusing for both the Winchesters, Dean was estranged by Jo's behaviour, lately she had been ice cold to him, he couldn't explain himself what the hell was happening, one moment things were pretty good between them and the other she was a total bitch, but meditating about this, these couple of days, he had come to the conclusion that he didn't care, he had tried to be good with her, now he didn't gave a rat's ass about what she did, if she stayed fine, if she went her own way fine that was fine as well. Sammy on the other hand had no idea of what was going on with his brother and Jo, one day they were fighting the other they got along and now it was as if neither of them wanted to acknowledge the other's presence.

Everyone in the bar was paying attention to the TV, the news were on. A middle age woman with red hair and bright red lips was speaking, of something that happened at a hospital, but it was the headline what caught Dean's eye: "Vampire attack?" it read. Dean stood up and approached the TV to hear the whole story.

"Vampire attack?" Dean asked to no one in particular but called the attention of the guy next to him.

"A man was killed the other day and a nut case said he saw the man was attacked by a vampire, now the guy entered the morgue and, hear this, he stabbed the guy in the heart with a wooden stake" The guy told him.

"Wow" Dean said and turned his attention to the TV, they were showing photos of the dead man, in one of them the man was laying in an examination table, his wound were pretty bad, he had huge slashes across his chest and face, his neck was practically gone and in his arm there was a big purple bruise.

"And what really happened to the guy?" Dean asked once the picture was gone and the red haired woman was talking again.

"Nobody knows exactly… my guess… a grizzly…there are common around these regions…they only know that it sure hell wasn't Dracula, the guy's nuts"

Dean nodded and returned to his table, he told Sam what the guy had told him and what he had seen in the news, to Dean it seemed worth of taking a look into.

"We're here we might as well take a look… You think is vampires like the guy's saying?" Sam asked.

"Not really, vampires aren't messy, they drink their victim's blood and toss the empty shell away, leaving just a dried up corpse, usually they don't maul and play with their food" Dean explained.

"For what you said the body looked like, I'm not buying the grizzly attack" Jo said with a cold look.

They ate, they were planning on hitting town when the rain stopped, but it didn't, it slowed down just a little. The mist was thicker in the small town, Dean could barely see a few feet ahead. They decided to pay a visit to the guy that had stabbed the corpse first, the guy's house was small and was in pretty bad shape, however the Winchesters and Jo climbed the two small steps of the porch and knocked. After a few minutes the door opened as far as the chain allowed, a young man with spiked black hair and olive skin looked seriously at them from behind the safety of his door, he carried with him a strong scent of garlic, he wore a golden crucifix around his neck, the man waited for them to speak.

"Hi – Sam began – my name is Sam Winchester, this is my brother Dean and my friend Jo, we are reporters and…"

"Let me guess you've come here to make fun of me" the man interrupted.

"No, no – Sam cleared his throat – we were hoping you could tell us what you saw"

"I've already told everyone and they said I was insane" the man said and was about to close the door but Sam placed his foot in between.

"We don't think you're insane" Sam said keeping the door open.

The guy looked at Sam, then at Dean then at Jo and back at Sam, he stared at him for a few moments then exhaled hard "Fine" he said, Sam let go of the door, the guy closed it undid the chain and opened the door again. He let them in.

The guy's house was a complete mess, _you gotta be kidding_ Dean thought as he entered, there were bunches of garlic hanging form every door and window, crucifixes hanged form every wall, on the coffee table there was a pile of wooden stakes and next to it there was a water container that said "Holy water".

"I'm Brandon Marshall, I'm a vampire hunter" the man said. Dean had to bite his tongue in order to not to tell him that everything in this room was more than useless against a vampire.

They all stepped into the kitchen and took a seat around a tall wooden table. "So what happened?" Jo asked him.

"I own a shop downtown… I was in my way there. The weather has been awful these last couple of weeks, it won't stop raining and that mist appeared out of nowhere. That day the air felt chilly, like something evil was around, I noticed I wasn't the only one in the street, Kenneth Bishop, the local mechanic was across the street, he had a black umbrella, he was walking in the same direction as me, I saluted him and then as he passed an alley something pulled him inside, he screamed, a horrible agony scream, I rushed to the alley to see what was wrong and I saw him, he looked like a normal man, but he had this blackish claws, he was on top of Kenneth…oh God Kenneth was still alive, he had blood all over but he still moved, the creature lifted him with one hand, as if Kenneth was a rag doll, then with a quick move he tore his neck apart, then he threw Kenneth's body away like if it was done playing with, and turned, he saw me, his eyes were red as fire and his mouth… his mouth seemed like if it couldn't hold all it's teeth…it was twisted into some kind of creepy ass smile. It was horrible, I was paralyzed, I remember the only thought in my head was: Holy crap! I'm at this hell spawn's mercy, I'm dead… but then he exploded…into these really small bats, he flew away…I fainted, when I woke up I was in an ambulance"

Sam, Dean and Jo exchanged looks; that was definitely not their kind of vampires, this guy had just watched way too many horror movies with way too much booze. The guy looked at them and slammed his hand hard against the table.

"You don't believe me" he spat.

"No it's not that… it's just…"Jo began.

"It's just that you're a fucking lunatic, or a liar or imbecile or just a creepy loser trying to get attention right?"

"That's not what I was going to say" Jo replied.

"No? I can see it in your eyes, you're this close to burst into laugher – he made a pause – I've heard it all, but you know I don't care because when those things take over town…I'll be prepared and all town is going to eat their words"

After their discussion, Brandon kicked them out. They went back to the Impala. "Freaking waste of time" Dean murmured.

"Maybe not entirely – Jo said without looking at Dean – I mean maybe it wasn't a vampire, but maybe it was something else"

Dean didn't said anything back to her, "Let's check a little further into this" Sam said.

"I guess it can't hurt" Dean said and drove to the closest motel.

They checked into an average motel and as always it was double room for Sam and Dean, single for Jo. After setting their stuff, they went to the public library.

"So what are we looking for exactly?" Jo asked.

"Anything that might sound weird" Sam answered.

"Us weird" Dean said.

After digging through the local paper for an hour or so, Dean showed them his findings "Well maybe something is going on here look at this, Mark McCoy disappeared a month ago, Paul Harvey banished from thin air two months ago, Gary Burton went for a pack of cigarettes and never came back also two months ago, and it keeps on, nine disappearances in six months"

"That sounds us weird" Jo said looking at the articles.

"Let's see what we can find out about the missing persons – Sam said with a pause – I'll check the corpse of the guy that was attacked maybe it's got something that'd give us an idea of what we are dealing with"

"Have fun" Dean said sarcastically and sat in front of one of the computers.

Sam checked the corpse, it was clean, there wasn't any indication of any monster he could remember, most of the wounds were only deep large slashes, so the only lead so far was that they were dealing with something with big claws. He called his brother to let him know he was on his way back, Dean had bad news for him, they couldn't find any link between the missing persons, some were married, some were single, some were divorced, some had kids, some didn't, some were white, some were black, they all had different jobs, different lives. After hanging up Sam put his hoddie on for it was still raining. Sam was on foot, the distance from the library to the hospital was incredibly short, he noticed the mist had faded a bit, he was distracted with this when a running man crashed against him, they fell to the floor. As he was standing up, the man grabbed his arm tightly and completely frightened.

"Help me!" the man whispered.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Sam asked confused.

"Something… a man is following me…he did this – the man showed Sam his arm, it had three long cuts – please help me" he explained.

Sam quickly pulled off his handgun, he didn't know what the creature was so he didn't know if normal bullets would hurt it, but the gun was better than nothing. The guy hid behind Sam and they waited, when nothing happened, Sam gave the guy an estranged look.

"It was chasing me I swear to God!" the man screamed.

They heard something fluttering around them, Sam turned to where the sound came, it was circling them, and it was getting closer, Sam could manage to see a black shadow, he tried to follow it with his eyes but it moved to fast, the guy behind him scream out of terror, Sam turned in time to see the shadow or rather, now that he looked at it close, cloud drop over the man who moved his arms frantically to keep the clouds away, Sam couldn't quite make out what they were, he still shot at them, the blast of the gun scared them off the man. The man fell to the ground but he was alright, Sam approached and noticed his body was full of tiny cuts, then out of nowhere something pulled his shirt and threw him away from the man's side. Sam hit the wall and saw a man with dark skin and curly black hair, he looked strange, his clothes were ripped apart and his fingers were incredibly thin and ended in long sharp claws, the ones in his right hand were … into the man's belly. Snapping out of it Sam stood up and shot at the monster but it didn't seem to bother him, the creature pulled his hand free cutting the man in half along the way. Sam emptied the clip, but the monster still didn't mind him, he reloaded, the monster exploded into the same blackish cloud, Sam kept shooting at it, but the cloud just flew away, when it was gone he approached the man or what was left of him, there was a big puddle of blood, Sam saw something moving a couple of feet behind the man, it was one of the things that formed the cloud, he approached and saw it was a very small bat, its wing was perforated, Sam grabbed an old shoe box from an alley near by and picked placed the bat inside.

Dean and Jo were leaving the library, it had been kind of awkward to work with her, they only spoke when they needed something from each other and there appeared to be a permanent uncomfortable silence between them, at first he thought it would be impossible to work like this, but they had managed to do it, both of them understood there was no other way, as both of them were to stubborn to try to talk about what was wrong, they did it, they had managed worked together, when Sam came running to them, he was holding a box.

"Definitely us weird" Sam said as he stop in front of them.

"Yeah? What did you find out?" Dean asked.

"At the hospital? Nothing but on my way here…" he opened the box, and the small bat flew away completely fine.

"A bat?" Jo asked, Sam was very surprised to see the bat flying he had assumed the wing to be beyond hope of healing.

"A whole bunch of those attacked a man I was with, the weird part is, they transformed into a man, like the one Brandon described, he killed the guy I was with, just ripped him in two" Sam explained.

"So you're saying that Dracula really is in town?" Dean asked with a little sarcasm in his voice.

"No!... I mean I don't think it's a vampire, or at least like the ones we know but there's definitely something in this town"

"We didn't find much about the missing persons" Jo said handing Sam a bunch of missing reports.

Sam looked through them and suddenly stopped "Paul Harvey? That's the guy I saw"

Jo grabbed the sheet of paper and took a look at the guy "Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure" Sam replied.

"So what's the plan?" Dean asked.

"I don't know see what can we found about the creature Brandon described" Sam said and they returned to the library.

They worked until it was dark outside. All they found lead them back to the vampire myths, similar to Dracula's, where the vampire had all this … of abilities and that every hunter in the world knew them to be bull. They also read legends and stories about shapeshifters, but all of them agreed that a shapeshifter changed his form to another complete animal, exactly equal to a wild animal, and not … of many of the same.

"So we're back with Dracula and twilight" Dean said throwing his head backwards, too much reading in a screen had made his eyes hurt.

"What if we ask Brandon?" Jo asked.

"Ask him what? – Dean made a pause to see if she would reply when she didn't he continued – Come on he saw what Sammy saw and then read all this bull about vampires and now he thinks he's an expert in vampires"

"Maybe he knows something we don't" Jo continued

"Like what?"

"Like… I don't know but we've run out of material here and my but is all gone from seating here all this time" Jo told him.

She had a point Dean's ass was pretty tired itself, and she was also right about the not finding anything. They went back at Brandon's, and found him as he was about to leave his house.

"Oh now you believe me, now the whole town believes me huh?" he said with airs of importance, Sam and Dean exchanged a look of confusion.

"The whole town?" Sam finally asked.

"Yeah, I told them they were going to take over the whole place and it took them five deaths to finally call their attention"

"Five deaths?" Jo asked.

"Yes today five people were murdered" he informed them "And there were witnesses in some, so tomorrow there's a town emergency meeting at the church, they're scared shitless"

"So, Brandon, how do you kill these things?" Dean asked him.

"A stake through the heart" he said simply.

"How do you know it will work?"

"I don't know it's a matter of faith I believe, now if you excuse me I have monsters to hunt" With this he grabbed a bag full of crosses, stakes and wholly water bottles.

"Wait, Brandon, I don't think is a good idea to go by yourself" Sam stopped him.

He was walking back to Sam, a few steps form him, when something fell on top of him, they heard a loud crack and they saw what had made the sound, both of Brandon's legs were broken and sticking out of his flesh. As fast as they could they all … their weapons and shot at the thing, Jo and Dean used their handguns and Sam used a short shotgun with rock salt loads. The creature didn't mind the bullets, it was when Sammy blasted the rock salt at it when it seemed to be annoyed, not hurt, just pissed. With a quick movement the monster snapped Brandon's neck and leaped at Sammy. Dean and Jo kept shooting but got nothing. The creature was so close to Sam he could smell it, it stank of dried blood. Out of nowhere a man fast enough not to have seen him coming, grabbed the creature form its neck and smashed against the floor, he climbed on top of it and kept the creature under control.

The man looked up at Sam and yelled "Quickly fill the bathtub in that house" and threw something at Sam. It was a big bag full with salt.

They did as they were told and filled up the bathtub and poured the salt in it. When it was done the man grabbed the creature from the floor and dragged him inside, using just one hand he lifted the monster form the neck and … in the tub, there was a hissing sound and most of the water evaporated as it burned the creature's skin, after holding him down for a few minutes he pulled out his hand, they looked at the tub and saw there were only clothes left. Jo looked at the guy and raised her shotgun aiming at the stranger.

"What are you nuts?" Dean screamed.

"His arm" Jo said simply.

The Winchesters gazed at the man's arm, it was burned, they could see his muscles but he didn't seemed to care about it, apparently it didn't hurt, they could also see the skin growing back.

"Who are you?" Dean demanded raising his weapon too.

"I'm the guy who just saved your sorry asses, so stop aiming at me!" he answered.

They looked at each other then lowered their weapons. "Who are you?" Jo asked calmer than Dean had asked.

"I'm Travis Moore and I'm here to clean up my brother's mess" he explained, he was very tall and had curly brown hair that matched his eyes, he was a little built up.

They went into the living room and sat. Travis explained what he meant by brother's mess.

"As you can see I'm not human, I once was but that's no longer, I'm what you can call a werewolf"

"A werewolf?" Dean repeated.

"Not your modern kind of werewolf… - he sighted and try to explain himself better – Maybe I should start by the beginning – he took a deep breath – As I said I'm Travis Moore and I was born, in October 26, 1320 – he made a pause - I lived in London and had a brother named Tyler and a wife named Elizabeth, I was a blacksmith my brother was a medical apprentice, but the man he worked for was no medic, he was a witch. In 1349 the Black Death hit London, my brother's teacher was accused of witchery and burned in the stake and my wife, Elizabeth, died. Not long after this, I found the swollen pustules in my neck, I was doomed, and Tyler in an effort to save my life, transformed me into this creature, then he caught the plague as well, and practiced a similar ritual on himself, he became one of these things. We got into a fight and I never saw him again, until now, I know my brother's behind of what's happening here and there is a slight chance h is still in town, so I'm here to stop him" he explained fast and seriously.

Jo and the Winchesters reminded in silence while they listened to the story "You know where Tyler might be?" Jo asked.

"There is a cave system in the woods… my bets are there, but before we strike, and I say this because I see you're hunters and want to help if I'm not mistaken, we need to get rid of the other creatures" They went outside back to Dean's car.

"How many there are?" Sam asked.

"I counted five, four since we killed this one"

"How do we kill them?" Dean asked.

"Salt, burning a large part of them with salt…salt water also works"

_That's going to be easy to pull of_ Dean thought sarcastically "Where do we find them?"

"Wherever there are people I guess"

"There's a church meeting tomorrow" Sam reminded them.

They entered Deans car, Travis stayed outside; "If we're going to do this, you need to get yourselves prepared, the sun is rising you'll have today to do it, I'll keep an eye on things until night, if the other four show at the meeting I'll need your help fighting them" after he said this he was gone. The Winchesters were a little confused about how they were going to prepare, it wasn't like they could bring buckets of water and threw them at those things.

"I have an idea – Jo said – but we have to go shopping"

With the town being in emergency state nobody dared to leave their houses that meant Sam, Dean and Jo could grab supplies from the local stores. They split up and went to find something that might work, they met up after an hour.

"I found these – Sam showed them a big and large syringe – we can fill it up and used as close range defence"

"You' got these from a store?" Dean asked looking at the syringe.

"I made a quick run to the hospital" Sam said.

"Well the best I could find was this – Dean said showing a big water gun – it beats the carrying the water in buckets"

"I made these" Jo gave them a tranquilizer dart.

"You think it would work?" Sam asked her.

"It's not tranquilizer, it is salt water, kind of like your syringe but at distance"

"I like it" Dean said looking at her; she didn't seem to be in her bitchy mood today.

"We can make more if we work until sunset"

They prepared their weapons and just before sunset, they arrived at the church, the people were already inside. "Ready?" Travis said as they were getting out of the car.

"No but what the hell" Dean responded.

"Good, 'cause they're coming"

It started raining, "I have an idea" Sam said and went to the Impala, he grabbed three large bags of salt, and began to spread it on the floor, he made a circle in the ground.

"Good it might slow them down a little" Travis said.

A large black cloud arrived at the spot they were it settled outside the circle of salt, the five creatures materialized around them, their eyes shined bright red, the creatures stood there without moving, then a growl escaped Travis throat and he jumped on the one closest to him. That set off the others, they launched themselves at the hunters, Sam, Dean and Jo shot at them with their darts but the monsters were too fast, they dodged them, finally Dean managed shot one, the dart stopped him short and made the area surrounding it burn and melt, Dean kept shooting and within seconds the monster's body was covered with blisters, he fell to the ground and continued burning, the others watched this happen and became more careful dodging the darts, one jumped towards Sam, one moment he was standing far away watching his friend melt and the other he was right in front of Sam, quickly Sam stabbed two syringe one into the guy's side the other into his neck, he pushed the solution and immediately he could see the damage the salt water did while it made its way through the monster's veins, the guy squirmed and let out a choked growl then fell to the ground, one of the remaining monsters exploded into little bats and came at Jo, it didn't hurt her badly, just a few scratched but then she realized what he was really after, her riffle was broken, the monster reassembled in front of her he had a wicked smile on his face, then he exploded again and the cloud of tiny bats hovered towards Dean, she dropped it to the ground and pulled her water gun. Dean was having trouble already, his attacker moved way too fast for him to shot at and also he didn't seem to mind the salt on the ground, all of the sudden a flock of bats hit him and threw him away, he hit the floor hard, he saw the monster coming but it was too late to move away, it fell on top of him and tried to stab him with his claws, Dean could get his hands free to reach for his syringes, and in the corner of his eye he saw the other creature returning to his human form just a few feet away, he felt a splash of water and saw the monster on top of him roll over trying to ease the pain in his back, then he saw Jo had done it, she had saved him, as the last monster rushed towards him, Jo aimed at it and splashed it too, it was enough to slow him down, Dean dodged the guy's attacks and stabbed two syringes in the guy's chest, two gigantic blisters formed around the syringes and the monster felt to the floor.

"Are you ok?" Jo asked him concerned.

"Yeah, thanks" he looked at her and became more confused, her eyes were warm, and there was actual worry and care in them.

"Good job" Travis said from behind "It looks like we've got an audience" he said looking at the church, all the windows were crowded with people that wanted to see what was all the disturbance outside.

Out of the blue, they were all thrown to the ground by an invisible force, they looked around and saw another cloud of bats flying to the middle of the circle, they transformed into a man, but it wasn't like with the others, the man looked like a normal man, he had short light brown hair and blue eyes, his features were delicate and his finger were the ones of a normal human, he was as tall as Sam.

"Finally I got your attention" he spoke to his brother.

"It's over Tyler, your servants are gone" Travis screamed back at him.

"Servants? Nah I think of them more like my guinea pigs – he made a pause – my flaw guinea pigs"

"What?"

"Oh come on you saw them, they were weak and couldn't go back to their human form, but I'm getting closer big bro"

"What is he talking about?" Dean asked Travis.

"When we fought I destroyed all his notes and spell books including our rituals" Travis yelled back.

"Oh you've got new friends…aren't you going to introduce me?" Tyler said mocking.

"Quit the crap Tyler and let's end this"

"End this? But if I'm just beginning" Tyler said in the same mocking tone. Suddenly Travis was on his feet and rushing at his brother, he hit him and sent him flying trough the air, Tyler hit the ground hard a long distance back.

In a matter of seconds Tyler was back where he had been standing "Fine if you want to play it like this, we'll play" he disappeared in a blink, then almost immediately afterwards reappeared carrying both Sam and Jo unconscious in his back "Let's see if you are man enough to risk your own skin for them" With that he was gone, and Sam and Jo with him.

"Where is he? Where did he go?" Dean looked around but couldn't see any trace of Tyler.

"Don't worry we'll get them back" Travis assured him.

"Dammed right we are… any ideas where they've gone?"

"To the woods, those caves I told you about"

"Let's go then"

"To the woods right now? It's almost sunrise, I think we should wait till morning"

"What? Why?"

"You're tired to begin with, because of the fight and also because you haven't slept in a couple of days, I can see that, and also, we don't know what traps he might have left" Travis explained.

"I don't care he's got my brother and my friend, so I'm going with or without you"

"Don't be stupid"

Dean turned and walked towards the forest "Watch me"

Travis caught up with him "Fine…" he stared at Dean for a moment.

"What you want a hug or something?" Dean said coldly.

"For a moment you reminded me of Tyler, he also did stupid things like this" Dean didn't reply he just kept walking.

Sam and Jo woke up, they looked around, there were in the middle of nowhere, they could see trees to the distance, to their right there was the entrance of a cave and behind them there was a large cliff. Tyler was standing to their left with his back to them. Sam placed a finger to his lips telling Jo to be quiet, he searched his pockets for his syringes, they were gone.

"I threw them away… I know you're no threat to me but its just precaution" Tyler said without turning. Sam and Jo looked at each other puzzled. Tyler took a look over his shoulder and saw it, they were working up a plan to get away "Go ahead, escape, I just used you to bring my brother here – they didn't replied to him – anyways when he gets here you'd want to be as far away as possible, when we… work out the good old family issues we tend to get a little destructive"

"Why would you want to kill your brother?" Sam asked.

"Kill? – Tyler laughed – I want to kick his ass, I mean he did ruin my experiments here, but I don't wanna kill him, he hasn't won death yet"

"Won death?" Sam continued.

"Travis is a rat bastard, he's the lowest scum that have ever walked this earth, and death… death is … calm…peaceful, it feels like a great burden is lifted from your shoulders and… and you're finally free… I want him to suffer… he can't get off the hook so easy"

"Why?" Jo asked.

Tyler turned "You're still here, I told you this is going to get messy"

"You're luring Travis here, but your also luring Dean and if it is going to get as bad as you say, we won't leave him, I won't" Jo said looking straight into Tyler's eyes.

"I like her" he replied looking at Sam.

Tyler made a sudden turn "He's coming" he whispered.

From the woods something made a high leap and fell right in between Tyler and Sam. It was Travis, he had carried Dean with one hand, he let go of him when they hit the ground.

"That was weird" Dean said to himself and joined Jo and Sammy.

Rain fell harder, Travis looked into Tyler eyes and without a word he dropped to his knees, he screamed, a long full of anger scream, Jo and the Winchesters saw how his back cracked and twisted, he spread his arms, with a loud crack they saw all his body contortion and rearrange in ways that were impossible, his neck, arms, legs, ribs, everything seemed to grow, under his shattered clothes they could see grey fur, then his face, his jaw prolonged, his teeth grew long and sharp, his ears became large and pointy, his nose moved to the front of his face, and his eyes shrank into two diamond shaped blue eyes.

They changed their attention to Tyler, he was laughing "And you're the fastest"

With a sudden snap, Tyler changed too, but it was faster, his fingers grew, his mouth distorted into a wicked full teeth smile, his eyes glowed fire red. Travis launched himself at his brother, when he hit Tyler the earth trembled. Sam, Dean and Jo just stared at the fight dumbfounded, they all had seen weird stuff but this was way beyond weird. To Travis the world faded, it was only his brother and him, and he had waited a long time to cut his brothers throat once and for all, he was faster but Tyler was stronger and every punch he managed to connect Tyler barely felt it, Tyler hit him hard in the head and send him to the ground, then he jumped to stab him with his deadly claws but was too slow for Travis, he was already up and expecting that blow, he grabbed his brothers hand and kicked him in the ribs, Tyler was thrown to the air, but before he could hit the ground he exploded into mini bats and attacked Travis in that form. Travis attacked the tiny creatures with his own claws and teeth, finally he caught one and crushed it, the bats immediately flew away and rematerialized. Travis's body was covered with little cuts that disappeared just after the bats flew away.

Tyler stood raised his hand for his brother to see "You got to admit is kind of ironical" Tyler said with a rough almost growl like voice, his middle finger was missing. Travis threw the bat to the ground, they stared at each other for a moment, the crushed bat returned to Tyler with a broken wing, it became his finger again, but it was twisted out of place, Tyler grabbed his hand and popped it back on its place.

The orange sun was rising behind Tyler, Travis attacked again, but this time Tyler managed to stab him in the belly, Travis growled in pain and pushed Tyler off of him. He jumped back and his wound regenerated in front of the Winchesters.

"Enough" Tyler screamed and attacked Travis, even with Travis incredible speed, Tyler managed to thrust every punch and kick, he made two long deep cuts with his claws on his brother's chest, then bite off a big chunk of Travis's shoulder, finally he grabbed him from his neck and with unbelievable strength threw him off the cliff. After Travis was gone, Tyler transformed into bats and flew to where the brothers and Jo where, seeing this, they split up and ran to different directions, Sam towards the cave, Dean towards the cliff, and Jo towards the forest, Tyler reappeared in front of Jo, and grabbed her by the neck, he was back at his handsome human form.

"Sorry nothing personal, it's just my brother is way faster than me and if I'm going to flee, I need a distraction"

Travis climbed form the abyss and found his brother in the forest, he was holding Jo "Nice dance bro, we need to do this again sometime, now I'm going to give you a choice, you can either save… What's your name hun?... well you can save the damsel in distress or you can chase me – he made a long pause – the choice is yours" as he said this he threw Jo away towards the cliff and ran. Travis didn't thought it twice he and ran after his brother.

Sam was closer to the scene, "Dean!" he screamed as Jo hit the mud and slid to the edge of the cliff, Dean was already running, he threw himself on his stomach and managed to grab Jo's arm before she fell off, he could see her other arm, it had dislocated when she'd hit the ground.

"I've got you!" Dean screamed and held a tight grip on her arm.

"Dean! Don't let me fall please!" She spoke back, she was terrified, but despite that, Dean could see something in her eyes, he couldn't quite make what it was, but seeing that determined everything, she wasn't going to die, he wouldn't let go of her for nothing in the face of the earth. Summoning all his strength he pulled her up.

When she was safely in the ground she wrapped her arms around him "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she kept repeating, she pulled back from him a little and kissed him in the lips, it was a passionate kiss that send a burning sensation through all of Dean's body, suddenly she pulled away as if realizing she had done something wrong, he looked into her eyes and saw it again, that something. And in that precise moment, holding her, and looking into her eyes, he knew what it was, it was love.


	6. Wanted

**Disclaimer:** I don't own supernatural

"We can stop here" Dean said looking at the bar up ahead.

They had been driving all day without a single stop, well except one for pumping gas and to answer nature calls, they were starving and their legs and butts were way ... by now, Dean parked the Impala far away from the entrance. The bar seemed to be crowded the parking lot was at its peak.

Dean got off and rushed to the bar leaving Sam and Jo alone "Gotta take a leak" he called back.

Sam and Jo got out and stretched their legs, Sam waited for Jo to grab her stuff, she accidentally dropped her wallet, she crouched to pick it up, but stayed down for a couple of minutes more.

She was looking at the car behind Sammy, there was something under it, Jo jumped back to her feet when she saw what it was "Is that a hand?" she asked Sam, hoping that, because of so many hours travelling, she was just seeing things.

Sam turned quickly and saw it too, he crouched next to the car and reached out with his arms, he pulled a dead guy form his jacket, as Sam pulled him out form under the car the guy's head fell back revealing a deep and long cut on his neck, his clothes were covered in blood, letting go of the guy Sam noticed something in his fingers, he brought his hand to his nose "Sulphur" he said.

Hearing this, Jo went back to the Impala and grabbed her shotgun, then ran to the bar, she reached the bar's porch, she climbed the three little steps in one hop, she could hear the jukebox inside but nothing more. She took a deep breath and entered, she moved quickly, with her shotgun raised, she walked in time to see Dean pinned to the wall, struggling and a woman standing in front of him. The whole bar was a horrible scene, everybody was dead, some were scattered on the floor, they had died trying to escape, some were next to the walls covered with blood but with no visible wounds, a man was lying on the bar, the bartender, a young and cute girl was face down on the floor next to a table were a guy was sitting with a knife in his chest and still holding his beer.

Jo shot at the woman two rounds of rock salt to her back, Dean fell to the floor and the girl turned, she had dark hair and olive skin, her eyes matched the black of her hair, she had a piercing in her lower lip and wore jeans and a dirty sleeveless white shirt, she took a step forward and swung her arm in the air, as she did it Jo was thrown against the liquor cabinet behind the bar, it hurt but full with adrenaline she stood up immediately, her shotgun had fallen next to the barman, she reached out for it but was stop halfway, Dean was running towards the demon but without looking she raised a hand "In a minute" she said and returned Dean to the wall, then threw Jo again, this time against the pool table, she hit her back on its edge, the girl grabbed the shotgun and walked to Jo, who was getting back to her feet, stopping at a short distance the demon said "Rock salt hurts you know" and shot Jo on her back, Jo went back to the floor this time the throbbing pain she had on her back was … by a sharp burning pain, she let out a little moan of pain.

"Stop! You wanted me, remember bitch! You wanted me, you've got me. Leave her alone!" Dean screamed.

The girl stopped, she looked at Dean then back at Jo, and simply kicked her hard in the head and knocked Jo out. She walked back to Dean "You're right – a man entered from the kitchen door – we wanted you" she said hugging the man "Didn't we honey?" she said and kissed him. He had long blond hair and a sloppy short beard.

"Yes, but actually we are waiting for the two per one package deal" he said.

"Don't worry his brother should be coming any minute now" the girl said and kissed the guy again.

"Sorry to burst your bubble here, I know Sam and I aren't exactly popular among demons… but why the hell do you want with us?" Dean said still trying to get out of the demon's grip but still unable to.

"Easy, you see there's a war coming and we want to be part of it, what better part than giving little Sam to Lucifer and skinning Michael's vessel"

Just as the demon was explaining this Sam burst through the door, he had Ruby's knife and was about to throw it when the blond man lifted his arm in the air and slammed Sam against the wall, still holding the knife Sam struggled to free himself but it was pointless.

"Now that everyone is here, let's get this party started" as she talked the man walked to the pool table and grabbed Jo's unconscious body.

"Let her go! You don't need her" Dean complained.

"She's an important guess Dean, you see to call our daddy we need fresh blood" she said while the man pulled a razor blade out of his back pocket.

Dean needed to think and to do it fast, he couldn't move, and these freaks were about to cut Jo open "It's a shame she isn't conscious, I would like to hear her scream while you watch her die" That comment filled Dean with a burning rage, he tried to get free again and managed to lift his arms from the wall a couple of inches "Bravo, I didn't know you care that much" she said slamming Dean's arms back against the wall.

Setting Jo in the middle of the room, the blond demon said "What do we do first baby, call the boss or tear Michael's vessel apart?"

The girl's black eyes locked with Dean's "Wake the girl first – she said without taking her eyes off of Dean's – I'd be the more fun to watch"

Sam and Dean kept fighting but didn't seemed to get anywhere, Sam looked around him, the kitchen door caught his attention, there was a man hiding, he had an automatic shotgun, the moment he noticed Sam had spotted him he brought a finger to his lips telling him to be quiet, then he made a bunch of signs Sam could quite make out, the man also noticed the confusion on Sammy's face, so he moved his lips, and Sam understood the man was telling him to get ready. Sam focused, ready for the fall, the man came out from behind the door and shot at the man, he blasted shell after shell against the man's body, Sam fell to the floor and quickly threw Ruby's knife against the demon girl, it hit her back with a red spark, the other demon managed to take the guy's shotgun away from his hands and punched the guy in the face, as soon as Ruby's knife touched the girl's body Dean was free, he felt in the floor, stood up as quickly as he could and grabbed the knife, he gave it a twist and the red spark spread through the girl's body, he pull it out and turned to the blond man, he raised his arm to stab him but the man threw his head backwards and spitted out the black smoke to the ceiling.

After the black smoke dissipated, everything was calm, the man picked his shotgun back from the floor "Is a nice knife you boy's got there"

"Thanks… but… who are you?" Sam asked.

"Name is Carl Morris…I've been hunting these two for quite some time now" he explained.

"Well thanks again, we're Sam and Dean…" Sam began.

"Winchester, I know… hell everybody knows who you boys are" Carl said, he was an average man, he wasn't tall or short, he had brown hair and eyes, he looked Bobby's age, maybe a little younger.

"Lets move then, I live in the town a couple of miles up ahead, you and your friend can rest there, and also usually I get out of the scene before the cops show up" Carl offered.

Dean turned and kneeled next to Jo, she didn't look too bad, with incredible gentleness he picked her up in his arms and went outside, he set Jo in the backseat and tossed the keys to Sam, they followed Carl's truck into town. They pulled into a small house, Carl let them in and took them to a small guest room, there were two single beds in there, Dean laid Jo in the one closest to the door.

"There are some medical supplies in the bathroom, help yourselves, I'm going to go make myself a drink, you boys want one?" Carl yelled he was already in the kitchen.

"Thanks we're good" Dean yelled back while Sam checked the bathroom.

Sam came back from the bathroom "Hold her on her side while I check her back" he said to Dean and he turned her. As Sam cleaned her wounds, Dean stared at her intently, when Sam finished he looked at his brother "You really care about her…" Sam said letting a long breath out, Dean met Sam's gaze but didn't know what to respond "I'll go talk to Carl" Sam continued and left the room. Dean sat in the bed across from her and waited.

"So how long have you been hunting?" Sam asked Carl.

"Long enough" Carl answered taking a long gulp of his beer, Sam looked around, Carl's house was practically empty except for a the fridge, two chairs and his weapon case, there was nothing more to see, "Home sweet home huh? – Carl said looking around too – I've always said, when you got nothing… you got nothing to lose"

"I guess for our kind of life… it makes sense" Sam said zipping his beer.

"Dammed right it makes sense especially in times of war"

"I'm going to go check on my brother" Sam said and went back to the room.

Dean's eyes moved from Jo to Sam "How is she?" Sam asked him.

"Just needs some rest" he answered.

"You too, you look like crap" Sam said.

Dean laughed "I'm fine, I'm hungry but… ok"

"I'll go and get us something to eat"

Sam was out and back in no time, they eat with Carl and this time they had a more cheerful conversation, after eating they had a couple of beers, some friendly poker and more talk, Carl told them that his I got nothing policy hadn't ruled all his life, there had been a time when he had everything, the world had been to his feet, he used to have a girl, a real home, an engineering degree, a good job, but then he had become a hunter and understood that he had to cut everyone off his life, everyone he cared about.

"You know how the kid's around here call me? – he asked but didn't wait for an answer – they say I'm Bitter Morris, but that's ok you know, I mean they don't know I work my ass off trying to save them… - he took a deep breath – well enough with the girly talk, I'm beat, lets call it a day – he said standing up – now… there's another bed in the room were your friend is, and an old couch in the living room, your choice" he said standing up.

"I'll take the couch" Sam said without hesitation.

"Fine by me – Carl said already going up stairs – as I said is your choice"

"Thanks" Dean said to Sam, when Carl was already on the second floor.

"Don't mention it" Sam said and dropped himself on the couch as Dean entered Jo's room.

Dean laid on the bed, not able to fall asleep, he just stared at the ceiling and tried not to think, he closed his eyes, but in his mind he pictured the same greyish ceiling he had been looking at, he thought about how close things had been today, slowly he began to drift away into slumber.

The next morning Jo woke up, her head hurt a little bit, but right now she was starving, there was a hole in her stomach, she looked around, she didn't knew where she was, but on the bed next to her she saw a sleeping Dean, trying not to make a noise she stood up and exited the room, she closed the door very carefully, as she turned Sam was walking to her room.

"Hey how are you feeling?" he asked surprised.

"I'm fine… just hungry" she answered him.

"Oh I was about to get some breakfast…"

"I'll go with you" she said.

"Sure… let me get Dean"

"He's sleeping… I think we should let him rest" she explained.

Sam thought about this for a moment, knowing Dean he had stayed up late watching out for Jo "Yeah… you're probably right"

On their walk to the restaurant Sam explained him how they had gotten out of the demon's trap yesterday, he explained Carl had saved them and that one of the demons had escaped so they shouldn't keep their guard down. Jo didn't even think what to eat she ordered the first thing in the menu and finished it in three bites, Sam watched astonished.

"Sorry I'm hungry" she said with a mouth full.

"I can see that"

"Hey can I ask you a question?" Sam said drinking some coffee.

"Sure, go ahead" she said chewing a big piece of pancakes.

"Is there…something going on… between you and Dean?"

Jo had to take a drink of coffee to swallow "No… no… why you ask?" she said taken aback for the question.

"Well… it's just…you know the way you look… at each other sometimes" he explained.

There was an awkward silence, until out of nowhere a girl entered the restaurant and approached them.

"Jo!" the girl said surprised. Jo's blood went cold when she saw her, it was the girl with long auburn hair that had been with Benjamin and Nicholas in the sewer, now that she looked at her better, she saw the girl had clear blue eyes and a tiny nose. Jo was speechless "It's me Denise – Jo didn't understand – Denise Bailey, we went to high school together… well until you dropped out"

Jo decided to play along "Oh yeah… Denise I'm sorry it's been so long… I almost didn't recognize you"

"It's amazing, are you here on vacations? Oh my god and who you got here?"

"Denise this is Sam, Sam, Denise – Denise shook hands with Sam – we're here on business" Jo explained.

"Oh we should definitely get together sometime before you leave, you know to catch up" she said.

A waitress offered more coffee to Sam and Jo "Are you joining them?" she asked Denise who turned and waited for Sam or Jo to say something.

"Sure why not?" Sam replied.

"Terrific" Denise said, she asked the waitress for a coffee and excused herself to the bathroom. Giving Jo a puzzled look, Sam took out of his jacket pocket a canteen full with holy water, he poured some into Denise's coffee.

"It struck me as weird too"

"Let's find out" Sam replied.

Denise returned, she drank her coffee; nothing happened except a pleasuring moan, she told Sam fake anecdotes about Jo's days in school. After a long while Denise said goodbye without forgetting to repeat her offer of a meeting to Jo, Sam and Jo left too.

"I think I'll keep an eye on her, there's something I don't like about this" Jo told Sam.

"Let me call Dean and we'll help you" Sam said.

"No it's ok if there's trouble I'll call you" Jo replied.

Sam didn't push it anymore and returned alone to Carl's house. Dean was going out, he asked where Jo was and Sam explained what happened.

"You let her go after that chick? What if she's possessed?"

"She didn't react to holy water, besides Jo said she'd call if there was anything odd… why do you worry about her so much Dean? She's a hunter like us she knows how to take care of herself"

The door opened, it was Carl "Good to se you boys are up… I, I have a lead on the demon that escaped yesterday, I was about to go check it out and… I might need a hand"

Sam looked at Carl "Sure…just let me grab a few things" he looked at his brother again and then entered the house to gather their weapons.

Jo followed Denise to a small department, when she was opening the door she called without looking "You're alone right?"

Jo came out of her hiding "Yes, What are you doing here? What do you want?"

"Let's talk inside"

Jo walked inside, the room was dark, all the windows were closed, there were piles of books on the floor, they look very old, there were melted candles on the floor as well, to her right there was an altar, filled with instruments Jo wasn't familiar with, Denise sat on an old dusty couch and invited Jo to join her, she sat across form her, there was a small coffee table stain with weird looking substance.

"You're a witch" Jo mumbled under her breath.

"That's right, look Jo, I'm a busy girl so I'm gonna cut straight the chase, Nicholas is crazy, this whole vengeance crap is bullshit, and I wan t to help him snap out of it – Jo looked at her confused she wasn't following – this has nothing to do with you really, I already did all the work, but I think you should know that you'll be out of all this mess soon, who knows maybe you'll even get your mother back"

"What? How?"

"I'm going to dispose of Sam and Dean Winchester, Nicholas would have to find another person for his ritual, and well… let's just say things will get back on track"

"Why does he want Dean?"

"Doesn't matter – she said standing up – what matters is that the ritual will be completed and everything will be on our favour" she said grabbing a book form a pile on the floor.

"What is the ritual for?" Jo asked.

Denise ignored her and continued "Right now, I'm going to offer you a extremely generous deal, you've been a good sport so far, so if you want to join the winning team, you're free to do it…unless you rather rot with the other humans of course"

"I don't know what your plan is but I'm going to get out of this without harming Sam or Dean or my mother, I'm getting everyone out of this, you understand?"

Denise laughed and read a spell from her book "There is done" she said simply ignoring Jo's previous threat. Jo didn't understand "Oh didn't I tell you? Before entering the restaurant to accidentally run into my old high school friend, I place a couple of spell bags, especially designed to make Sam and Dean… well you know" she said mockingly.

Jo quickly grabbed a knife from the table and pushed Denise against the wall "Stop it!" she commanded.

"Sorry hun even if you kill me the spell is already in course – Jo stabbed with all her strength Denise in her shoulder – now the question is are you going to stay here killing me or are you going to try find the spell bags… not that you have a chance, even if you find them, you'll never make it... they should be sweating blood right now and dead in less than fifteen minutes" Denise said with a smile. Jo let her go and ran outside.

Sam and Dean followed Carl to a house a couple of blocks down, the house was silent sill, all the curtains were down, they walked to the front door, Sam gave it a little push, it was open, they stepped inside, on the floor, next to a hanged phone there was a woman, she had a large and deep T cut on her chest, her eyes were fixed on the ceiling. They passed her and explore the house, when they entered the kitchen a voice from behind asked them "I see you've met the Mrs." they turned but before they could shoot they were thrown to the walls of the kitchen, the demon wasn't too strong he had managed to throw the three of them but not to pinned them to the wall, Sam grabbed his knife and approached him, the demon turned his attention to the kitchen shelves, they opened and all the glasses, cups and plates flew towards Sam, he dropped to the floor, and covered his head, Dean stood up and shot the demon with rock salt, the demon moaned in pain and tried to attack Dean, Dean gave him a hard punch in the face and the demon went down, Carl dropped holy water on him and grabbed his arms and began with the exorcism, Dean grabbed the guys legs and poured more holy water on the guys chest, the demon gained some strength and managed to push them off of him, he went after Dean and picked him from the neck and started chocking him, Sam was already on his feet, he grabbed the knife again, he ran to where the demon was holding Dean, he lifted his arm and stabbed him on the back, there was a red spark on the guys eyes and mouth and the demon was gone, the body let go of Dean and fell to the floor, the guy was also dead.

"Thanks Sammy" Dean said.

"Good work boys" Carl called from behind them and suddenly hit Sam with the butt of his gun on the head. Sam dropped to the floor, and Dean turned to Carl confused, he was pointing the shotgun at him "Don't give me that dammed look… really you two are the worst hunters in the world, all this is your fault, setting the apocalypse upon Earth… before I killed five, six evil creatures a year around here, now there are hundreds of them"

"We're not sitting on our asses Carl, we're trying to find out a way to stop all this" Dean said.

"Yeah? Well newsflash, it ain't working! – Dean just stared at Carl, he still had the shotgun aimed at him, and he didn't know if it was loaded with rock salt or real shells – it's not fair you two screw up and everyone else has to pay"

Dean was thinking of a way to take the shotgun off his hands but suddenly he felt a wave of pain strike his body, he dropped to his knees, his first thought was, Carl shot me, but then he realized there had been no blast and that there was no wound in his body, he heard a high pitch in his ears, he brought his hands to them, but it didn't stop, he felt a warm liquid coming out of them, he looked at his hands, it was blood, there was another punch of pain on his stomach and chest, and he began to cough very hard, he looked at the floor, more blood. His vision was blurry but he managed to see that Sammy's ears and mouth were bleeding too, he wasn't moving, unconscious from Carl's hit, Dean couldn't stop coughing, he felt his heart beating hard in his chest as if trying to get out, there was a last wave of pain, it started in his chest and spread through his body, he looked up at Carl, he had a confused and scared look on his face then he blacked out.

Jo returned to Carl's house in less than three minutes, she checked the room she had waken in, but it was clear there was nothing there, she went outside, the Impala was nowhere to be seen, she looked around her, she could hear a clock ticking in her head, she saw a woman playing with a kid in the lawn across the street, she rushed there "Excuse me... Did you see a black car pulling off the house in front?" she asked the woman.

"Yeah three guys left in it a while ago" the woman answered.

"Which way did they go?" Jo asked wasting no time.

The woman pointed to the right and Jo sprung into a run, he had to find them, as she ran she pulled her cell phone and called Dean, it rang but no one answered, she hanged up and try Sam, the same thing happened. Then looking ahead she saw the big black car parked in front of a house, she reached it, there was no time for lockpick it, she approached the drivers window and gave it a hard blow with her elbow, the glass shattered and fell inside, she opened the door and began looking, she checked the wheel the glove compartment, Dean's box of tapes, Sammy's bag, then when she slipped her hand under the seat she felt something, she pull it out, it was one of the hex bag she searched the other seat, there was a hex bag there too, she took them and grabbing a lighter she found in Sam's bag she burned both bags as fast as she could, they disappeared in a large flame of blue fire. She looked at the house, it looked creepy, she opened the glove compartment again and grabbed Dean's chromed handgun. She went for the door, it was open, she stepped carefully inside, she passed a dead woman and went into the kitchen, she found the Winchesters tied up to chairs, she saw Dean's shirt was covered in blood, she saw a man finishing a knot in Sam's feet, she walked quietly towards him and raising the gun she aimed at him.

Who are you? Are you with that witch?" Jo asked angrily.

Carl turned around but couldn't raise his shotgun in time "What witch? ... I'm Carl"

"Drop your shotgun – Jo said taking a step forward and Carl obeyed – wait Carl? The hunter?"

"The one and only" the man said.

"But you were helping us" Jo said confused.

"Yes – he said in a low voice – but you don't understand… they are evil… they started the apocalypse" Carl said stepping back against the wall.

With one hand Jo began untying Sam, she looked at them, they were still breathing.

"You're a fast runner" a voice called from the back.

Jo turned and saw Denise, she was standing at the kitchen's door, Carl took advantage of Jo's distraction and picked up his shotgun, Denise saw him and with a quick swing of her arm threw a knife at him, Jo turned and aimed the gun at Carl again but he was busy trying to get the knife out, she turned back at Denise.

"Don't shoot me… think about it Jo… you'd be off the hook, you'd get your mom back"

"I won't let you kill them"

"You're going to kill them anyway… come on you really think you're going to come up with a plan to save them all?"

Jo thought about this for a moment "Yes" she said whispered and shot at Denise three times, one bullet hit the witch right between the eyes and she dropped to the floor. Jo lowered her gun and continued to untie Sam and Dean.

"You're missing something" a familiar voice said from the corner of the room. She turned and saw Nicholas, with his cane and combed back hair. Jo didn't know what to say or do, she imagined the worst, that the ritual was ready and it was time to hand Dean to him.

Nicholas eyes turned to Carl "He knows… you can't afford him to rat you out" Jo looked at Carl he was on the floor crawling to the back door then she looked back at Nicholas.

"You knew about her?"

Nicholas switched his gaze to Denise "No I didn't, I don't know what she was planning, I only see that you've stop her"

"Then how you found us?"

"I felt her… dying – he explained – clean up the mess" he said looking again at Carl.

Jo looked at her gun, she didn't know what to do, on one hand Carl had tried to kill Sam and Dean and on the other he had saved them too "I'll be worst if they wake up and saw you doing it" he added.

Jo raised the gun and shot him, one clear shot to the head, Carl dropped to the floor and stopped moving. Nicholas approached Jo and placed a hand on her shoulder "You handled this well… earned a bit of my trust… you realized that, don't you?"

"What's the ritual for? Why Dean?"

"I still don't trusts you enough for that" he said, Jo felt his hand leave her shoulder, when she turned he was already gone. Jo untied Sam, then she move to Dean and began working on the knots in his hands, Dean moved his head to one side moaning.

"Dean, Dean are you ok? Open your eyes" Jo told him gently grabbing his face between her hands.

"What happened?" he moaned and tried to keep his eyes open, he could hear his pulse in his head.

Looking at Denise on the floor "Witch… - then she turned to where Carl's body lay – and Carl"

"Sammy?" Dean asked now his eyes were wide open.

"Behind you, he's still unconscious"

Jo released him and together they woke Sam, there was blood on the back side of his head and neck, it reminded Jo of when the demon inside her mom had hit her, she helped them outside. When Dean saw his car he wasn't real happy.

"What the hell did you do?"

"I saved your ass and you worry about your car?"

"You could have lockpicked it…" Dean said in a sad tone.

"I guess you like coughing blood right?" Jo said to Dean.

"Fine… I forgive you – he said looking at her, then looking at Sam – lets get out of here"

Dean drove away from town but they stop at a gas station, they cleaned themselves up, Sam took the backseat, his head throbbed pretty bad, Dean vision was still a little fuzzy, while he gathered some water and food, food being candies, cookies and chips, Jo took a look at Sam's head.

"Thanks by the way"

"Oh it's nothing you'll be as good as new in a few days"

"No, well yes, but I meant, thanks for saving us"

"You guys have saved my ass a time or two"

"I know Dean won't admit this but… he's glad you're with us"

"I know… - she cleared her throat – and there… you're good to go"

"Thanks, I'm going to lay down a little while"

"Sure, you need some rest"

Jo closed the car's door and waited for Dean to come back, he walked towards the car with a couple of bags in his hands, he put them in the car and stared at Jo, without saying a word.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" she said smiling at him.

"No I was thinking… - Jo made an exaggerated face of surprise, and laughed – you know forget it, I was going to say something here but…"

"I'm sorry, sorry, it was a joke go on tell me"

"No, no the moment is gone"

"Ahh come on… tell me– she made a sad face – please"

Dean laughed too, couldn't help it "I was going to say thanks..."

"I see" Jo said not taking her eyes off of him, she loved those green eyes but they reminded her she wasn't off the hook yet, she still had to figure a way out.

Holding her gaze for a minute and then looking away, Dean continued "I also wanted to say, my vision is still a little blurry"

"Oh, well we can stay in the hotel by the highway" Jo suggested

"Actually I had another idea on my mind" he said pulling his keys from his pocket.

"You're kidding" Jo said disbelieving.

"I wish… - Jo waited for a minute, expecting him to put them back on his pocked and laugh at her face – take them before I change my mind"

She grabbed them and climbing into the driver's seat of the black 67 Impala, with Sammy in the backseat and Dean next to her eating all the crap he had bought, she drove away.


	7. Jealous?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own supernatural

They entered the house silently, the windows were boarded but the door had a simple lock.

"I hope there aren't any rats around" Jo said as they walked into the living room.

"Sorry blondie but we've got a little money problem" Dean said.

"You don't have any" Jo conjectured.

"Yeah pretty much" Sam replied setting some blankets on the floor.

The whole place was dusty and old, hadn't been used in years, Sam went to check the rest of the house, and make sure nobody else lived here, Jo found a place in the big empty room to set her stuff, she bend over to set what would be her bed for a couple of days and felt something brush against her butt.

"You're gonna lose that hand Dean" she said pissed.

"What? – Dean called from the other side of the room – I'm over here" he said turning his flashlight towards her.

Dean pointed the light at her but and saw a big fat dark brown cockroach, Jo quickly swung her hand and slapped off the horrible insect with a high pitch scream. Dean could only laugh at the scene. Jo walked angry and disgusted to the door.

"Where are you going?" Dean asked still laughing.

"I need to get out of here!" Jo answered.

Jo walked around the neighbourhood for a little while until she found a bar, she stepped inside, she didn't had much cash but there was no way in hell she was going back at that house, she looked around there was a pool table to her left, the bar to her right and a small stage at the back where a band was playing. A small crowd had formed around the pool table, she approached the people and ask if she could join them. One of the guys that were playing walked towards her and stopped right in front of her, he checked her out and made a small mocking laugh.

"This is a serious game, pretty… but I'll let you seat over here and watch me clean this guys up" he said as he trace her arm with his finger.

Jo slapped his hand away and took the cue away from his hands. On the table there were three balls, the five ball, followed by the eight ball and the white ball at the end, she lain over the table and hit the white ball, it bounced up, jumped the black eight ball and hit the three ball which rolled all the way to the far corner right pocket. The people around her made a challenging _ohhh_ to the guy that had talked to Jo.

"So you're ready to get your ass kick by a girl?" she asked the guy.

"Where is Jo?" Sam asked Dean.

"She was attacked by this huge cockroach – he said with a laugh – and went to get some air" Dean replied.

Sam gave Dean a look.

"Don't worry, I was about to go out looking for her" Dean said standing up and going for the door.

"Let's go" Sam said.

"You coming?"

"I'm not staying with the molesting roaches" Sam said letting a little laugh escape his throat.

They went outside and walked the way Jo had.

After cleaning all the people that challenged her, Jo decided to relax with a well deserved beer, she had won enough to keep Dean, Sam and herself out of abandoned houses for a little while, she was about to ask the bartender when someone talked to her.

"You're pretty good at pool"

She turned and saw a handsome man had made the comment, he had short blond hair and blue eyes, she could see the muscles in his arms, _Wow not bad_ Jo thought, he was wearing a leather jacket and dark jeans.

"Thanks" she finally managed to reply.

"I'm Charles – he continued – but my friends call me Charlie" he stretched out his hand and smiled.

Jo shook his hand and noticed his gorgeous white teeth smile "Jo" she said simply.

"Jo?" he asked.

"Johanna… but only my mother calls me like that" she explained.

"Well Jo, can I buy you a drink?" he asked sitting next to her.

"I don't see why not – she answered and saw he was carrying a guitar case – you play guitar?"

"Yeah I was up stage while you kick that guy's ass" he explained.

"Oh, that was you? You were pretty good" she said, she didn't just say so to give him a compliment she had listened between turns, she had recognized a song from Dean's travelling repertory.

"Thanks… I'm really into classic rock – Jo smiled at him – What? You don't like it?" he asked her.

"No, its just you reminded me of a friend that likes that kind of music too" she explained.

The barman stood in front of them waiting for their order "Vodka and…." Charlie said gesturing towards Jo "Just a beer"

"So… I've never seen you around here"

"I'm kind of in a road trip with some friends"

"Living life… totally free and that stuff huh?"

"Not so much, sometimes is not at good as it sounds"

"Then why don't you quit the trip?"

"I don't know, sometimes is bad as I just said but others, it's just… great and I don't picture myself doing anything else" she said as memories of people she had helped flashed through her head and also some of her time with the Winchesters, one in particular.

Their drinks came and they talked some more. Setting the empty glass in the counter Charlie looked over Jo's head "Hey wanna shoot some darts? – Jo hesitated her response for a moment – Come on don't tell me you're not as good at darts as you're in pool"

It had been a while since she had played but she was good at darts, but she lied "Actually I kind of suck in darts"

"Why is that I don't believe you" he said with a smile.

"I do, I'm no good" she reaffirmed.

"Show me" he said handing her one dart. Jo grabbed it and stood in front of the board. She pointed to the red point in the middle, but when she threw it she twisted her wrist to the left. The dart hit the edge of the board.

"I still don't buy it but here, let me teach you"

"Dean everything's locked" Sam told him.

"She went this way, I'm sure of it" Dean said walking on the sidewalk. Finally they got to an open bar "I bet you ten bucks she's in there"

"You don't have ten bucks to bet Dean" Sam reminded him.

They walked to the door and from the entrance they scanned the bar looking for Jo, they spotted her in the back, she was with a young blond man, playing darts, but all of the sudden the man placed himself behind her and gently grabbed her right hand with his and casually set his left on Jo's hip. Together they threw the dart.

_You gotta be kidding me_._ The teach me how to? That's like the cheapest trick_ Dean thought. They walked to her.

"I going to get us a refill" the man she was with said.

"Not for me I'm good" she replied.

"Ok practise while I'm gone" Jo couldn't help to check Charlie out when he turned.

"If you keep staring at him like that your eyeballs are going to fall out of their sockets" Dean said.

Jo turned, she was surprised to see Sam and Dean here "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to see how you were doing after the whole roach encounter" Dean mocked.

"I'm fine"

"Yeah we can see that… but you can't throw darts right?"

"Shut up I was working on our money problem… and I just heard how that sounded and let me explain it, I won some pool bets" she said showing them the money.

"Wow that's a lot for pool bets" Sam said.

"What can I say… the guys were very confident they weren't going to loose"

Charlie got back "Hey" he saluted.

Jo cleared her throat "Charlie this is Sam and Dean"

Sam had to rub his eyes, Charlie kind of look like Dean, but maybe it was just the leather jacket and also because they stood in the same way.

"Dean is the one I told you about"

"Oh right she told me you liked classic rock, I play in a band just finished a few minutes ago, you should have heard us" Sam looked at Charlie then at Dean then back at Jo when he said this.

Dean grabbed the darts from Jo's hand "So Charlie you look like a man that takes good care of himself" Dean said throwing the first dart right in the middle of the board.

"No actually quite the opposite, I love all kinds of junk food and the like, I think what keeps me from drooping dead of a heart attack is my job" Sam just couldn't believe the resemblance.

"Really? What do you do?" Dean asked.

"I'm a paramedic"

"I thought you were going to say cop"

"Nah I don't like cops much… most of them never get to the real bottom of the problem"

"Huh" Dean said throwing the second dart, again it struck the board right next to the first one.

"Yeah no cops, but I don't know maybe I would have made a good cop, I'm a pretty good at shooting – Dean stared at him – my dad used to take me deer hunting when I was little"

"So how long are you staying here?... Jo told me she was road tripping with you guys"

"Yeah I don't know maybe a couple of days" Dean answered throwing the last dart and going back to where Sam was standing.

"Well we should go" Dean said to Sam and they walked to the door

Jo picked up the darts "I'll catch up with you in a bit" Jo said. Sam went out but Dean stayed by the door watching them.

"Before you go lets make the last throw interesting" Charlie said.

"What you have in mind?" Jo asked him.

"Let's say if you miss you let me kiss you"

"And if I don't?"

"I'll let you kiss me"

Jo aimed and threw the dart right in the middle, then she approached Charlie, he hold her between his arms and gave her a great kiss, after splitting up Jo still felt a tingle in her mouth and lips. Dean exited the bar and joined his brother on the walk back to the abandoned house.

"Can you believe that guy?" Dean said. Sam gave him a weird look "What?" Dean asked.

"Oh don't tell me you didn't see it"

Dean gave him a confused look "See what?"

"Dean that guy was practically your double… you stood on the same way, threw darts exactly the same way, he eats crap but gets in shape because of his job, he's a good marksman _and he likes Jo_" the last part Sam kept it to himself.

"I'm nothing like him and for all we know he could be making that stuff up" Dean said pissed and walked faster.

Jo catch up with Sam and but Dean was already too far ahead "Is he ok?" she asked Sammy.

"Yeah he's just tired"

The next morning they got to work, the reason they were in town was that two girls had drown, all of them in Crystal Pond, and the Winchesters thought it was worth checking out.

"So we need to… check the pond, talk to the families of the girls and maybe check the bodies"

"I'll take the pond" Jo said.

Dean gave her a look "I'll talk to the families, you and Sam will check the pond"

"Why? Sam can check the bodies… it'll be faster"

"You're not going alone to where two girls just drowned"

Jo looked at Sam "He's right Jo" Sam said.

"Fine…" she said rolling her eyes.

Dean first went to "Slice of heaven" a small dinner owned by Seth Moss, father of Tamara Moss the first drowned. Dean entered the place, he looked around there was nobody inside, just an old man sitting behind the register and a young man wearing an apron and with a broom in hand sweeping the floor.

"Hi… Excuse me sir but are you Mr. Moss?"

"Yes… Seth Moss – he said looking up and down at Dean – and you are?"

"My name is Dean I was friends with your daughter Tamara…" the man's eyes sparkled when he heard the name "I was in school when I got the news…" Dean continued.

"I see… - the man said looking at a picture of the girl he kept by the register – please take a sit… Cody! Bring some coffee to our friend over here" he called to the boy in the apron.

A tear fell on Seth's cheek as he showed Dean the picture "She was prettier than I'd remember" Dean said.

"Yes she was beautiful… like her mother…" the man said but it was almost a whisper.

"I'm sorry for your loss Mr Moss"

"Thank you" Seth said wiping out his tears, Cody brought Dean a cup of coffee.

"Do you have any idea how it happened?" Dean asked.

"Not a clue… I don't have the minor idea what could she had been doing in that pond, she usually stayed at home, never went out except for school" Dean didn't say anything. A group of people entered the dinner and made a line in front of the cashier.

"That's the worst part you know?"

"Beg your pardon?"

"Not knowing… Got to get back to work" Seth said and walked back to the register.

Dean walked back to his car "Bullshit" someone called from behind him.

Dean turned and saw Cody standing in front of him "What?"

"You're no friend of my sister" he accused and Dean gave him his best fake confusion look. "Look she told me everything, she would have told me about you… now who are you and what do you want?"

"I'm Dean and I think there's something wrong around here… just trying to figure out what" Dean explained.

"Wrong how? My sister drowned, it was an accident" Cody said with a trembling voice.

"Maybe, maybe not, what I can tell you is that I can see you yourself don't believe that she just drowned" Dean said locking gaze with him. Cody held Dean's stare for a second then turned to the sky "Was she acting any unusual the last few weeks? Did she said something or do something out of the ordinary?" Dean asked him without taking his eyes off him.

"She had met someone… she was going to go away with him, drop everything"

"Her boyfriend?"

"No that's the weird part she met the guy a few days before it, I never saw him, she said he was perfect, that he was the one, she used to go see him by the pond"

"You didn't tell the police about this?" Dean asked him.

"I never really saw the guy and besides I know my sister, she was changed somehow, like under a spell or something"

After the visit to the Mosses, Dean went to ask at the "Fit and Slim" gym, the second victim, Noelle Walsh, a 46 year old woman, according to her neighbour she spent a lot of her time in here, he asked the desk clerk and he pointed to a woman coming from the pool area.

"Mrs. Norris?" Dean asked.

The woman stopped a few steps away from him, she stretched her hand out "Is Ms. Norris, but you can call me Dawn dear"

Dean shook her hand "I'm with the sheriff's department, I'm looking into Mrs. Walsh case, I understand she was a friend of yours"

"That's right officer…"

"Ted, Ted Nylons" Dean lied, like he was telling this old cougar his real name.

"Well officer Nylons what can I do for you?"

"Just answer a couple of questions – Dean said taking a step back – How was Mrs Walsh like?"

"She was a real doll, very interesting woman and also a funny one, not as funny as me I'd say, but bottom line a nice woman" Dawn said taking a step towards officer Nylons.

"Did she say or did anything out of place the days before she died?"

"Oh… I see… you want the dirty secret huh? – she took another step forward – maybe you should take me in, you know… for questioning" the woman said provocatively.

Dean took another step back and hit the wall "I would rather you tell me here"

"Well… - she approached him, she placed her lips close to his ear and whispered – word says she had a young treat hiding somewhere"

"Young treat?"

"Yeah she met him in a picnic at the pond… was head over heels for the man" she said lowering her hand to Dean's but "Now officer, why don't you perform a deeper interrogation" she said squeezing Dean's but.

Dean jumped to one side "I don't think that's necessary… I'll come back if I have more questions"

Dawn looked at him undressing him with her eyes "Sure… I'm at your service dear, for anything"

Dean had never been more uncomfortable in his entire life, he shook the creepy feeling he had come out with and hopped into the Impala.

Sam and Jo had scanned all the pond surroundings, there were no signs or tracks of anything supernatural there, they also checked the victim's homes, the older woman's house was clear, but in Tamara's apartment they had found some dried seaweed in the porch. Sam told Jo this maybe meant something, since most water spirits are told to be carrying seaweed on their bodies. All their afternoon spent, they met up they met up with Dean back at the house. On their walk back Sam and Jo bumped into a familiar face, just outside of the house.

"Charlie?" Jo said, seeing the tall blond man carrying a couple of paper bags.

"Jo… hi… How are you?"

"I'm good, and you?"

"Fine just doing some shopping" They were silent for a minute, Jo looked at Charlie then at Sam.

"Yeah so I'm just gonna go take a walk" Sam said and got out of their hair "So how do you like town?"

"It's ok I guess, I haven't really checked it out"

"Well if you go to the pond be careful some girls drowned there"

"I know but thanks for the warning"

"What hotel are you staying at? I was thinking maybe we could get together later tonight, you know… have a drink or throw some more darts"

"Sure that'll be fun, but I can't tonight we sort of have plans…"

"Oh sure maybe tomorrow – they were silent for a little time – well at least let me walk you back to your place"

"Actually… we're sort of there"

"What? – he looked around then finally got it – you're staying here?" he said pointing to the house.

"We're short on cash, and besides it's abandoned"

"Yeah but… what about the money you won the other night at pool?"

"We need to save that for places where there are no other options but a motel"

Charlie thought about this for a moment "You can stay with me" he offered.

"Yeah I bet it'll be real nice" Jo said a little sarcastically.

"Not like that… I have an extra room where you and your friends can stay"

"Thanks but we're really ok, we're used to" she said gently turning him down.

Dean's car pulled on the street, Jo looked at it then at Charlie "I should go… but if you need anything my house is four blocks down, the blue one"

"Thanks" Jo said and Charlie turned and left.

"What was he – Dean put a contemptuously tone on the he – doing here?"

"Just passing through… Oh and asking me out – Jo answered and Dean gave her a disbelieving look – Jealous?"

"What? Me? Please… Why would I be?" Dean defended himself.

After sharing their information, they decided to guard the pond that night until they found more information, so far the best they had was water spirit. All around the pond was green grass and a couple of trees here and there, it was the most popular camping zone in the area, the moon was full and made the pond's water take a bright silver colour. There wasn't anybody around, maybe because of what had happened lately, maybe because it was past two A.M. then just when everybody was thinking it was a waste of time they heard a scream, they ran towards it and saw a woman running towards them, Sammy managed to catch her and tried to calm her down.

"What happen? Are you ok?" he asked.

The woman, a young brunette with dark brown eyes, tried to explain him "A man…" she said with a trembling voice and fear in her eyes.

"A man" Sam repeated.

"He's chasing me!" she said using all her self-control to calm herself down. Dean and Jo stepped forward with their shotguns up. They looked for the man but there was no one to see, they were alone. Sam held the girl close, he also scanned the darkness for the man she'd mentioned, he looked at her again and saw water was coming out of her nose. She seemed not to notice, but then she coughed out a mouthful of water, all the control she had regained, crumbled into dust after that, she started screaming again, between coughs and fell to her knees, Sam crouched next to her, unable to do anything for her.

"Jesus! What's happening to me?" the girl managed to scream.

"Listen! … Have you been to the pond lately?" Sam asked.

The girl threw more water out, her eyes were wet too Sam thought it was tears, but now he saw water was pouring out of them too "Yesterday with Willie – she coughed – the man… that's chasing me" she managed to say.

"Dean!" Sam screamed.

"There's nobody here!" Dean called back.

The girl kept coughing, she couldn't stop now, there was water everywhere and with a final choked gag she dropped to the ground, more water came out of her but she was no longer breathing.

The cops found her the next morning, the Winchesters and Jo saw when early in the morning they bagged her and took her to the morgue. They waited for the library to open, Dean had asked one of the cops, the girl's name was Teresa Burke, if this was a water spirit there should have been previous deaths. Jo offered to go to the girl's house while Sam and Dean looked into the old local newspapers.

She arrived to a small green one floor house, it looked like the neighbours hadn't gotten the news yet, she entered and closed the door behind her, there wasn't much to see, Teresa didn't seemed to be the kind of girl who spend a lot of time in home, still Jo checked the bedroom, the small kitchen and the living room. She saw it behind the small couch, more seaweed, finding nothing other than that she got out of the house. For a reason she couldn't explain to herself, Jo didn't went back to the library, instead she went to the hospital. She had her fake credentials with her so she asked to see the autopsy report on Teresa.

"Hey! – somebody called – what brings you here?"

She turned and saw Charlie coming towards her.

"Hey" she saluted.

"Here it is detective, Ms Burke's file" the doctor head of the morgue said and handed her the folder "If you need anything else I'll be in my office"

"Thanks" Jo said meeting the doctor's gaze.

When the doctor left Charlie spitted out "Detective? ... I thought you were on a road trip" he asked confused.

"Yeah… it's not really easy to explain" Jo told him not knowing what else to say.

"Try" he said.

"Hmm… well I'm looking into Teresa's death"

"Why?"

"It's sort of my job"

"So you are a detective?"

"No…" Jo didn't know if she should tell him the truth.

"You know… I don't want to know… but… I want to help – Jo had expected a million different replies but not that one – Teresa… she was a friend of mine…"

"I don't know…"

"Please" he said with a puppy eye look, for some reason in that moment she didn't saw Charlie, she saw Dean, and she just couldn't refuse.

"Ok"

"So what now?" Charlie asked.

"Well let's see this – she said flipping the folder open and reading – they found seaweed in her throat and mouth"

"That's not normal" Charlie agreed.

"No is not… Let's check with the doctor see if there was something alike in the other girls" Jo said. Charlie turned to show her where the doctor's office was and that was when she saw it, it was like a punch to the stomach, she saw crawling from under Charlie's shirt something green, something that looked awfully like dried "Seaweed" she whispered.

"What was that?" Charlie turned and asked her.

"Nothing… just I remember I forgot something… can you check that for me and meet me back at the house?" Jo asked him.

"Sure"

Jo exited the hospital with a calm and easy walk, but as soon as the doors closed behind her she sprang into a run. She reached the library when her cell rang.

"Yeah?" she answered.

"Where are you?" Dean's voice sounded worried.

"Right outside the library"

"Look we found out who's behind this…"

"Yeah me too, I'll meet you inside" she said and hung up.

She found the Winchesters "That boyfriend of yours was around here in the 60's and I'd bet my ass way back before then" Dean said showing her an old newspaper picture of Charlie giving CPR to a woman.

"I know, I saw him on my way back, he has seaweed in his back"

"That's because he's a Nix, a Germanic water spirit – Sam explained – they take the form of attractive men and drown women, they usually are musicians and like to drink vodka and chew tobacco"

"How do we kill it?" Jo asked.

"Obsidian blade" Dean said pulling one from his jacket pocket.

"You know where we can find him?" Sam asked Jo.

"He said he would came by the house later"

"Great… we'll be waiting for him"

Jo waited seated on the floor, Sam was hiding with the obsidian knife in an old closet, and Dean in the other room but with a rock salt shotgun, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in" Jo said out loud and Charlie entered "Did you find anything?"

"Yeah… all the girls had seaweed inside their bodies… - he said walking to her – but what do I feel like you already knew that…"

Jo lied as best as she could "I don't know, I didn't knew that"

"So what did you find anything?"

"Not really…"

"You're lying" Charlie said seriously "You know what happened, don't you?" he was close but not enough so she tried a different approach.

"Yeah, it's a water spirit – she said stepping closer to him, under her sleeve she felt the tip of the knife she carried, it wasn't obsidian but it was something – is a kind of pathetic water shit that likes to drown girls" she said and with a quick move she raised her hand in order to stab him, he grabbed her arm in the air and Jo stopped an incoming punch with her other.

Holding him Jo yelled "Sam now!"

With that Sam left his hiding place, Jo could feel something with Charlie's touch, he was strong but there was something else wrong, all of the sudden she coughed water out and fell to her knees, Sam brought the knife down at Charlie's back, missed him by an inch, Dean stepped into view and shot at the monster the rock salt hit him in his chest and he fell on his back, Sammy took his chance he jumped at Charlie, but just as the blade was about to touch his body Charlie transformed into water and disappeared between the wooden boards in the floor.

Dean crouched next to Jo, but she had stopped coughing "Where did he go?" Jo asked.

The brother's looked at some of the water still on the boards.

"We need to find him, before he finishes his cycle" Sam said.

"How? – Dean asked – he knows we're after him"

"We could summon him" Sam suggested.

To summon a Nix you had to drip blood into the lake, pond or canal the spirit hunted, but that wasn't any good news, as the creature would have the upper hand and had tons of water at his disposal. But still they could let it kill two more times and disappear for fifty years. They arrive at the pond and prepared themselves.

"Stay as far away form the water as possible" Dean said to Jo.

Sam and Jo stayed back as Dean cut his hand and let his blood drip on the pond, then he took a few steps back. A strong wind blew, the water of the pond seemed to be trembling, out of nowhere a man appeared in the middle of the pond, it was Charlie, but now his hair wasn't blond, it was filthy and full of seaweed, his skin was white and translucent, blue veins could be seen all over his body, but his eyes where the same, blue coloured and as beautiful as always, he didn't walked to the shore, one minute he was in the middle of the pond, the other he was just a few steps away from Dean.

"You seriously thought this was going to work?" he told them and with a move of his arm a big wave rose and knocked Dean over, Sam and Jo opened fire, but again it disappeared and reappeared, now in front of Sam, with one punch he send him flying next to where Dean was, Jo didn't stop firing, the creature walked towards Jo and with his left hand grabbed her shotgun, with his right he held Jo by her shirt. Jo felt weak again, she coughed some water out, she felt her legs like if they were made out of rubber, but he kept her standing.

"No…this ain't very entertaining" Charlie said to himself and with a quick turn and his inhuman strength he threw Jo into the pond.

Dean was on his feet and saw Jo fell into the water, he saw her coming to the surface and taking a big breath, but then she was pulled down. Forgetting he had dropped the black knife on the floor he threw himself into the water, and swam as fast as his arms allowed to where Jo had fallen, he saw them at the bottom Jo was struggling to get out of his grip, Dean swam to her aid and tried to pull her away, Charlie set Jo away, she had stop moving, and punched Dean in the stomach trying to leave him out of air, Dean reached a small knife he carried on his ankle and shove it into Charlie's face, then he swam towards Jo, he managed to grab her hand before a strong current of water threw him up and back to shore. Dean opened his eyes and in a blink he saw Charlie was on top of him trying to choke him, he looked to his side and saw Jo was laying face down, still not moving.

"Don't worry you'll join her soon" Charlie told him with a greenish full teeth smile.

But just as he said this Sammy stabbed him on the back with the obsidian blade, Charlie looked at the end coming out of his chest in disbelieve and released Dean, Dean punch him on the face and shove him away from him, Charlie felt on his back, he was still in shock, Dean stood up and slammed his foot down on Charlie's chest, right next to where the tip of the knife came out, the blow pushed the blade deeper into his body and Charlie's eyes froze in horror, a second later he dissolved into a big stain of black water, leaving the obsidian blade in the middle. Dean didn't saw this he was rolling Jo over, she was pale and wasn't breathing, he laid her on the ground and with his hands together he pushed her chest, then blocking her nose with one hand and opening her mouth with the other he breathed into her mouth, he did this two more times, until finally, Jo opened her eyes and coughed hard throwing all the water out and gasping for air. Dean was so relieved when this happened. She closed her eyes but after a few seconds that seemed like forever she opened them again and locked her gaze with Dean's.

"Glad to have you back" Dean told her with a smile.

They went back to the house and packed their stuff, Jo was throwing a bag into the Impala's trunk when Dean approached her.

"Sure you're ok? We can stay here another day"

"I'm fine, besides I don't think I can stand another night in motel roach" she replied.

"I knew there was something wrong with that guy" Dean said in a low voice.

Jo laughed a little "I can't believe it …You're still jealous"

"I'm not… I was never jealous"

"Come on… a big sign that reads JEALOUS is more discreet than you" Jo teased.

"Oh really… and What about you?"

"What about me?" Jo asked.

"Please that guy was just a bad copy of me"

"That's not true, you were alike in a few things but he was different"

"Different how?" Dean asked.

"He wasn't a show-off who thought every girl had to find him attractive"

"And I am?"

"Yeah"

"Well do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Find me attractive"

"No!" Jo said right away

"You're lying"

"No I'm not… you see he wasn't this annoying either"

"So you don't feel anything about me, not a single little thing?"

"No I don't fee…"Jo began but couldn't finish.

Without any warning, Dean lain over and kissed her, he kissed her the most delicious and passionate kiss she had ever had in her life, it lasted a while although to her it seemed too short, when he backed away, she could feel tingle, the echo and the warm of his lips, it was much more stronger than what she had felt when she had kissed Charlie, no Charlie's kiss didn't even begin to touch Dean's, it took her a good five seconds to open her eyes again she didn't know she had them closed, she still saw him, inside her eyelids, a gorgeous pair of green eyes looking back at her.

"So?" Dean asked "Nothing?"

Jo took a deep breath she had forgotten to breathe "No… not a thing" she said but it was a bad lie, and Dean could see right through it. He went to the car and climbed into the driver's seat, Sammy came out of the house with the last bag, they joined Dean in the car and were gone.


	8. All You Need Is Love

**Disclaimer:** I don't own supernatural

"So what he wanted?" Dean asked Sam keeping his eyes on the road ahead.

"He wants us to check out a town a few miles east" Sam explained.

"Did he say why?"

"No just asked if we could take a look"

A couple of hours ago Bobby had gotten a call from Terry Owen, he was a man in his mid thirties who own an inn, an inn that was hunted by the previous owner pissed ghost. Bobby had helped him get rid of it. Terry had called saying there was something strange, but not in his inn but in the whole town, after that Bobby had called Sam and Dean to see if they where anywhere near there and as it turned out they were.

It was morning and it only took them a couple of hours to get to town, first thing they were going to do was talking to Bobby's friend, so far the town seemed pretty normal.

Terry's inn was big, they parked the Impala outside and went inside, the inn was a mess, the carpet was stained and torn, so was the wall paper, some of the paintings that used to hang from the walls were on the floor, on a table next to the entrance there was a broken lamp next to an ashtray filled with cigarette butts, the air was stale and the illumination poor since most bulbs were broken, in front of the reception desk there was a beautiful chandelier.

Dean laughed "Someone is been having fun" he said grabbing a pair of sexy black panties from the chandelier.

They reached the reception desk, it was filled with all sorts of stuff, boxes of food, clothes, empty bottles, papers, money, candies and some goofy red stuff, neither of them wanted to know what it was. They turned their eyes to the man behind the desk, he had short messy hair and was wearing only boxers and socks, painted on his chest, nipple to nipple, with black marker was the word TERRY, he had a large purple pipe in one hand, he seemed asleep.

Sam cleared his throat "Terry?" but Terry didn't even stir.

"That's Bobby's friend?" Dean asked.

"Is he dead?" Jo asked.

"I don't know… what do we do?" Sam said.

"Poke him with a stick?" Dean and Jo answered at the same time.

"What? That's insane we aren't going to do that" Sam complained.

"Got a better idea?" Dean asked.

"Just go around the desk and shake him" Sam said, looking at Dean, Dean gave him a no way look and turned to Jo.

"I'm not touching him!" she told them.

"Why not?" Dean asked.

"Because…he looks sticky" she said and picked a candy from the counter "Here we can throw him this" she said putting it on Dean's hand.

"Fine" Dean threw it and hit Terry in the face.

The man sprung to life "Huh? No keep going baby…" he said still half asleep "What? Who are you?"

Dean elbowed Sam "Hi… we're friend with Bobby, he said you called him about something being wrong in town?"

"Bobby? – he said as if trying to remember – Oh yeah… nah everything is fine… I just needed to chill a little"

"Great" Dean said sarcastically.

"Wow, wow, man relax, here - he looked through the mess in his desk and fished a key with a red tag – take this room, free of charge, stay for a couple of days, you'll feel a new man" Terry said then laid his head back, closing his eyes again "That's what the girls said" he mumbled and was snoring in no time.

Dean looked at Sam still holding the key "I could sleep in an actual bed for a change"

The red tag on the key had a number 9 on it, they walked to their room, all the doors they passed had the _Do not disturb_ sing, one door number 6 was open, inside two there were two girls, a blond and a read haired one, they were both in they underwear and were kissing intently. Dean stopped short at their door, his jaw dropped down _Maybe Terry was right, a little time out won't kill me_ he thought as he watched the blond girl kiss the other girl's neck. Jo passed Dean and saw why he had stopped, she rolled her eyes and kept walking, Sam passed, took a peek at the room and slapped his brother's head, Dean's trance was broken and he kept walking. They got to their room, it was like any other motel room they had been, there were two beds separated by a night stand.

"There are only two beds" Sam said.

"So?" Dean asked.

"So you get the floor…" Jo said dropping her stuff on the first bed.

"Thanks but I may pay a visit to our lovely neighbours of 6" Dean said with a smile.

"Let's go check out town" Sam said.

"What? Didn't you see those girls Sammy? Besides Terry said there wasn't any problem"

"Yes but we should still check it out, I mean is a little weird don't you think? Bobby would have warned us about how Terry was like"

"Maybe he just forgot about it" Dean said but Sam kept staring at him "Fine let's go"

They went outside and walked around for a while, as they walked Sam noticed that most of the business and stores they passed were closed, they walked until they reached the city hall building, there was a huge garden in front of it. On the garden were gathered a lot of people, some were playing music, some were kissing and making out, and some others were just talking while drinking and smoking.

"Ok maybe you were right" Dean said as he spotted a deputy wearing only his black tie, his pants and his hat.

As the rest of town everything was closed, everything except a bar to their left, The Cruz Sisters was called "Come on" Sam said and walked towards it.

They entered the bar, it was the same as outside and in Terry's inn, they walked to the bar "What can I get you?" a gorgeous, sexy brunette woman wearing tight wore out jeans and a red shirt that matched her lipstick, asked them.

Dean turned towards her, _Wow_ was all that came to his mind. Ignoring the stupid look in his brother's face, Sam began "What's going on around here?" he asked sitting.

"Beat's me – the girl said opening three beers and putting them in front of them – half the town started acting like that about a week ago or so" she explained she turned to mop the liquor cabinet behind her with a rag she carried, she had a rose tattoo on her lower back, and Dean thought it was the sexiest he had ever seen.

"You have any idea why?" Sam continued.

"We don't have a clue but I think is cool… in the times we live, nobody just sit down and relax anymore" a perky voice called from their right.

They turned and saw a small woman with long and curly light brown hair, wearing an apron and a yellow miniskirt.

"Don't mind her…most of us pretend she's not here" another voice called seriously from the left, it was another woman, this one had straight black hair and was wearing black leather pants, black shirt and black apron, she was pale and had scarlet red lips.

"So you three must be…" Sam began.

"The Cruz sisters? Yeah we are!" the one with light brown hair said.

Dean and Jo drank their beers, Sam didn't even touch his. They paid and left, outside a man with a stained flannel shirt approached them with a tray, there was a small sing on the tray that read Special Brownies.

Dean grabbed one "You are not serious!" Sam said.

"Come on Sam it probably doesn't have anything special about them" Dean said and gave it a big bite "Mmm these are delicious"

"Really?" Jo asked and grabbed one too and eat it "You're right this are the best brownies I've ever eaten"

Dean was going to grab another but the guy didn't let him "One brownie per person" he said and left.

They went back to the inn "So were do we start?" Dean asked.

"We could try talking to the people that still is normal" Jo suggested.

"Yes we need more information… like when it started, if there was anything weird before people started acting crazy and the like… "

"Let's get going then" Dean said.

Sam stopped at the door "And do not accept food from those people for all we know it could be something they ate" Sam said looking at Jo and Dean.

They nodded and went outside and walked in different directions.

Dean was almost out of town, and had seen nobody in the streets neither a light in any of the buildings he had passed. Just when he was about to turn and leave he heard a bell, he looked around and saw an old lady coming form a grocery store, with a big paper bag in her arm and a cane in the other, Dean walked to where she was and keeping her distance he yelled "Need a hand"

The old lady turned and tried to walk faster but she dropped the bag, Dean approached her and began picking up her groceries. The lady smacked Dean in his head with her cane.

"Auch" Dean complained.

"Go away I might be old but I know how to defend myself"

"Easy lady – Dean said dropping the stuff he had picked up and standing up – I was just trying to help"

The lady looked at him for a second or two "You're not one of those pot heads" she said.

"No… my name is Dean and I just arrive to town" he said crouching again and picking up the items.

"Oh I'm sorry then, I'm Margaret"

"What's going on around here?"

"I don't know almost all town has gone mad"

Dean picked up the last thing, a can of spaghetti sauce. They walked together and the lady explained that everything had started a few weeks ago, with a crazy guy running naked in the street, nobody had paid much attention to him, everybody just thought it was another wacko, but then other people started acting the same and now it was everyone even the police. They reached a small white house with beautiful rose bushes on the sides.

"This is me sweetie" she said and walked to the door, she opened.

Dean was placing the bags in the kitchen table, when a little girl entered "Can I have a cookie?" she asked Margaret.

Reaching for the cookie jar Margaret took one out "But just the one or you'll spoil your appetite"

The girl disappeared into the other room and Margaret began unloading the paper bag "My neighbour's kid… he went crazy too, left the poor thing all alone in his house – the lady took a deep breath – sad isn't it?"

"Yes…" Dean answered in a low voice.

"Would you like to join us for dinner?" The lady offered.

"Thanks but I think I'm gonna head back to my hotel"

Sam heard a noise coming form an alley, he ran, when he turned around the corner, he caught a glimpse of someone running, he followed, the alley was a dead end, but there was no one to be seen, he walked silently to the green dumpster to his right and opened it "You're good hiding… but what are you hiding of?" Sam asked the young man inside, he mustn't have been over 16.

"I'm sorry I broke into the store, I was just bored"

"Bored?"

"Yeah you know with all the people going hippie" he said jumping out of the dumpster.

"Do you know why everyone is… going hippie?" Sam asked.

"Not a clue, but they're mostly old people… and a few my age I think" he began to walk out of the alley.

"Wow you really narrow it down"

"I mean there are no hippie kids" he explained.

"Really? And you know that how…?"

The boy stopped and explained "Because my sister, she has turned our house into a day care… picked up all the kids she could find… well all whose parents went to the new Woodstock"

"Do you have any idea why people are acting like this?"

"I think its got to do with the new bar… two weeks ago at the inauguration, it was crowded, and every one of the guys who attended there are hippies now, I know it I was there"

"Then how come you're not one?"

"I stayed didn't stay long… I just went with some guys from my school… you know see what the fuzz was all about"

"And? … What was it about?" Sam asked.

"Nothing, it was just a regular bar"

"There was nothing particular about it?"

"Nope… it was boringly normal… well except for the weird guy giving free brownies maybe"

Sam remembered the guy, but if the guy was responsible for what was going on, that mean Dean and Jo were on their way to become, as the kid would put it, hippies. After saying goodbye the kid Sam returned to the inn.

It was getting dark and so far Jo had only passed empty or closed buildings, but finally she saw one with its lights on, it was Pao Cheng's Chinese restaurant, she entered it was completely empty except for the old Chinese guy behind the counter.

He jumped off his chair when he saw her "Welcome to Pao Cheng's. What can I do for you?"

"Hi" she said walking to the counter.

He handed her a menu "I assure you everything is very good and I'll give you a free rice order for you are my first costumer in days"

"In days?"

"Since everybody lost it and decided to run naked on the street" he said angry.

"Do you have any idea why people started acting like this?" Jo asked him.

"Not really everything was normal until a few weeks ago"

"But did you notice anything odd before people began acting crazy?"

"Nothing at all"

"Are you sure? Even the slightest thing could mean something"

"No… well the inauguration of that silly bar downtown… now what's going to be?" he said looking at the menu in her hands.

Jo's stomach grumbled, she did was kind of hungry, she decided to take the guy's offer, she would also take something to Sam and Dean.

Back at the inn Dean was eating some of the food Jo had brought while she and Sam searched in their computers and books something that might help. There was a table next to the entrance door, Sam was there with his laptop open and his attention focused on the screen, Jo was sitting in one of the beds, flipping through some books, Dean was sitting at the foot of the same bed, eating. Jo switched her gaze from the book to Dean for a moment, for some reason she was thinking of the kiss, the delicious, breath-taking kiss he had gave her. A thump in the wall brought her back to the book, the thump was followed by a moan of pleasure, Dean smiled at the sound and Jo couldn't help but to smile too, not at the sound but at Dean, his smile was so cute, so were his lovely emerald colour eyes.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Dean asked. Jo hadn't realized she had the book down and was staring directly at him.

"What?... No… I mean yes, right here" she said pointing the upper right corner of her lip. Dean tried to get it out but he cleaned the wrong side of his lip "Here let me…" Jo said and wiped the sauce off with her thumb, she did it with excessive gentleness and many times.

"Did you get it?" Dean asked, she still was holding his lip, so he sounded funny.

"Yeah… sorry" she said and went back to her book.

Time passed, Sam went to the bathroom, and Dean put the empty boxes of food aside, he grabbed a book from Jo's pile he opened it and began to search.

"I already checked that one – Jo said handing him another book – take this one" Dean reached for it, when he grabbed it their fingers touched, it was just for a second, but Jo felt electricity circulating through her body, it was such a strong emotion that she stayed like that for a couple of seconds, with her hand stretched out, no longer holding the book, but imagining Dean's touch.

"Are you ok?" Dean asked her forcing her to open her eyes.

"Me? I'm great… its just that I…" she said but didn't finished she was stuck into another trance this time hypnotized because Dean was taking off his jacket, she could see his muscles under his black shirt.

"You…" Dean said to get her attention back.

She couldn't take it anymore "I lied, the kiss was great and I'm so attracted to you right now that I could…" she said very quickly that it took a time for Dean to understand what she was talking about, but before he could respond she threw herself at him and both of them fell off the edge of the bed into the floor, were Jo kissed him repeatedly. Sam came out of the bathroom in time to see Jo jumping at his brother and Dean struggling to get his mouth free.

Finally Dean managed to hold Jo away "I think we should check out your tampered brownie theory" Dean said to Sam.

Sam helped them up "Jo?... Are you ok?" Sam asked holding her away from Dean.

"Yes… I don't know what happened… I just had the urge to… do… stuff with him…" she explained.

"Well I do tend to create that effect on women" Dean joked.

"This isn't funny Dean I couldn't control it" Jo complained.

"Is it gone?" Sam asked.

"I think so – Jo looked at Dean as to confirm it – yeah he's back to disgusting pig"

"Really? You just accept you liked the disgusting pig's kiss… and what was it? Oh yeah and that you found him incredibly attractive" Dean said with a smile, Jo was lost again in his appealing white teeth smile. Dean jumped back a couple of steps "There it is! She gave me that exact same look before throwing herself at me" Dean told Sam pointing at Jo's face.

Sam snapped his fingers in front of her and brought her back to reality "Are you ok?" he asked again.

"Yeah its just… holy crap! I can't stop thinking about him!" she said pissed.

"What do you mean?"

"Yeah, I want to rip his shirt off and kiss all his body" she hadn't order the words out of her mouth but they came out anyways, she placed both her hands in her mouth, after a few seconds she yelled "What the hell's going on with me!"

"I don't know but we're going to…" Sam began but Jo elbowed him hard in the stomach and ran towards Dean kissing him without a warning. Dean managed to throw her on the bed, looking at him she bit her lower lip and with a extremely sexy gesture told him to join her.

"I think you should step outside Dean" Sam said still holding his stomach.

Dean obeyed, he waited in the hall, after a minute or so Sam came out of the room "I told her to stay there while we checked out the brownie guy"

"You think that'll work?"

"I don't know… I'm thinking out of sight out of mind, but who knows" Sam explained.

The man with the brownies was going home, he walked at a slow peace, Sam and Dean caught sight of him when he was exiting the bar, they followed him to an apartment building, he climbed three floors and entered the second door to his right. Sam picked the lock and they entered. The place look pretty normal, it was neat and clean, they heard a noise coming from the kitchen, they gave the door a little push, the guy was inside, he was mixing ingredients in a bowl, Sam looked at the kitchen table, the ingredients were normal, flour, chocolate, baking powder, eggs and stuff alike.

"I don't think he's our guy" Sam said picking up a bottle of milk.

They heard the cocking of a gun behind them, they froze in place "Who are you? What are you doing here?" a rough voice asked. They turned their heads to see who it was, a bearded man holding an old two barrel shotgun, he look extremely pissed out "Well…!" the man demanded.

"I'm sorry sir… its just we were worried about the man, he was acting estrange" Sam lied gesturing towards the cooking man.

"Strange? – the man said surprised – you're not from around here, right?"

"No sir we just arrived town" Dean said.

"Well… for your information, that's my brother John, and he has acted that way since April of '95… he was shot in the head in a bar fight, he survived but he never recovered, now he makes brownies, he cooks and cooks… goes downtown to give them away, it's funny actually, my brother hated to cook before the incident… Now and it's the one and only time I'm going to ask nicely, would you get out of my house and leave us in peace?"

"Sure… no problem sir" Sam said and with that he and Dean walked out of the apartment.

So it wasn't the guy with the brownies, they returned to the inn, both of them had forgotten about the crash Jo seemed to have on Dean, but as soon as they crossed the door they remembered.

Just as Dean walked inside Jo ran towards him and hugged him "Oh Dean I've missed you so much" she said.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked.

"Welcoming you back" Jo said puzzled.

"No, I mean why are you wearing my jacket?" Dean explained. Jo had Dean's leather jacket on, but was wearing nothing else.

"I thought of surprising you – she said with an innocent tone of voice – I was thinking maybe you and I could…" Sam cleared his throat not letting her finish "Oh sorry Sam hadn't see you were here too"

"Put some clothes on, it wasn't the brownies guy so we'll check the bar, it seems everything started when they opened it" Sam explained.

"Maybe you should go check it out me and Dean would stay here looking through the books again" Jo suggested to get rid of Sam.

"No, we are all going, so get dress" Sam commanded.

"Fine" Jo said rolling her eyes, she took off the jacket in front of them and handed it to Dean, she picked her clothes from the bed and started dressing.

"Are you absolutely sure we don't need to go through the books again?" Dean asked looking a Jo and almost drooling.

"Dean you're not considering… right?"

Dean thought about it for a while, he looked from Jo to Sam "Its just she is… I mean look at her…" he said and stared at her the same way Jo had when she had thrown him to the floor.

Jo finished to dress and they walked outside. Dean was driving, Sam was next to him and Jo was in the back, Dean didn't know what was going on, he had always thought Jo was pretty hot, but now she seemed to glow, he couldn't keep his eyes off her, he tried to keep his gaze on the road but now and then he would take a peek at the rear-view mirror, she was beautiful, every single inch of her, he loved her long blond hair, her dark brown eyes he especially loved those eyes when the sunlight shine on them, for they would take a honey colour that just drove him crazy, also her sweet and soft pink lips were worth dying for, luckily for him they had arrived, he parked the car and went into the bar, it was crowded, they had music on and everybody was dancing, drinking, or both, some people were making out, there was a small group at the back sharing a big marihuana pipe, they walked to the bar were the sisters were tied up serving drinks.

"Hi you! I thought you had freaked out and got the hell away from town" The brunette woman said to Sam and place a beer in front of him "Glad to see your finally joining the party"

"Nah I'm not much of a party guy"

"That was what the sheriff used to say – she said pointing at a chubby guy on the dancing floor – now he's having a blast" Sam kept a serious look "Come on your friends seem to be having fun"

Sam turned and saw Dean and Jo kissing against the wall, after he split them ups he returned to the inn, as soon as he turned his back Jo and Dean were back at it "I'm going to need help" Sam whispered to himself.

Bobby arrived the next morning. Sam explained him what had happened.

"We're dealing with nymphs here, and my bet is those sisters aren't human" Bobby explained.

"Nymphs, that means potions" Sam said.

"Yeah, so went did they drink it?" Bobby asked looking at Jo and Dean who were passionately kissing in one of the table chairs "Geez get a room" Bobby said.

"We are already in a room" Dean said while Jo kissed his neck.

"Yeah so could you give us some privacy?" Jo said turning, Dean was unbuttoning her shirt.

Bobby turned to Sam, "Let's waste those nymphs, if I stay any longer I'm gonna puke"

"Yeah let's go" Sam said pushing Bobby's chair.

They took Bobby's van and went to the bar, for a change it was quiet, most people were outside lying on the soft green grass, the lights of the bar were off and there was a small red sing that read closed, Sam picked the lock and they entered, Bobby rolled in first, he had a handgun with silver bullets, nymphs hated silver and to kill them you had to cut their heads of with a silver blade, Sam closed the door behind him, the problem was they only counted with silver knives and beheading the nymphs would be messy. They moved carefully, trying not to make a noise, Sam walked through a door at the back of the bar, it led to a small deck, there was a hammock to his right, on it one of the sisters the one with the long straight black hair slept. Sam didn't want to take any chances, so before sliding her throat he made a small cut in her arm, the skin around it turned black and it released a strong smell of decay, the nymph woke up and punched Sam in the face, but Sam made a quick move with the blade and sliced open the girl's neck, the skin around the wound also turned black, with a choked scream the girl dropped to the floor, putting all his strength in the knife Sam brought it down in the same wound, it took him another two strikes to completely separate the head from the body, the smell was unbearable and he had to hold his breath not to throw up, he stepped back from the body, the other sister, the small one with curly hair and the perky voice, broke a bottle of beer on his head, Sam went to the floor and the girl jumped on him trying to stab him with the remains of the glass bottle, Sam grabbed her arm and managed to keep the sharp end of the bottle away from his face but it was a matter of just a few inches, the girl was small but he was freakishly strong.

"This wouldn't have happened if you just had accepted that drink" she said trying to choke him with her free hand.

There was a loud BAM! And immediately afterwards the girls grip on both Sam's neck and the bottle loosened a stream of blood ran down her face, it came from a small hole in her temple, the sides of her forehead started to turn black and she dropped on top of Sam, he rolled the girl's body to one side and saw Bobby at the deck's door still aiming at the nymph, Sam cut of her head. _Two down one to go_ Sam thought. They returned to the bar

But as they entered they could see the last nymph waiting for them in the middle of the room with a revolver in her hands, she was aiming at Bobby.

"Drop your weapons!" she demanded. After exchanging a look Bobby dropped his handgun and Sam dropped his knife "Why have you attacked us, we haven't hurt anyone"

"What about those people because of your potion they've abandoned their families"

"So? Our elixir only opens their mind to freedom, if their meaning of freedom is to get drunk and leave their families is not our fault, there're people who drink it and live exactly the same as they used to"

"You can't just take people self-boundaries"

"Why not? I mean look at your friends they seemed to be having fun, What's so wrong about being honest to yourself?"

"You can't ditch your responsibilities in the name of freedom"

"What are you so afraid of? –she said looking into his eyes – that the real you would come up to the surface, that the darkest emotions you have bottled up inside you would overthrown the good ones, the only ones you let people see?" she yelled to Sam and turned the gun towards the liquor cabinet behind the bar, Sam saw his opportunity, with a little push he threw Bobby to the floor, he dropped to the ground and grabbed Bobby's gun, the girl turned the gun towards them and shot, the bullet hit the space Bobby's chair had occupied just a few seconds ago, Sam fired at the nymph three times, the girl and her revolver dropped to the floor, Sam helped Bobby up and gave the gun back, he picked up the knife and cut the last nymph's head off.

The death of the Cruz sisters would break the potion's spell. Jo woke up in Dean's arms, she remembered everything, finding him irresistible, kissing him, sleeping with him, she looked around she was in Terry's inn, on one of the double beds, naked, he looked at Dean, he was naked too, she jumped away from him, covering herself with the sheet, the movement woke Dean, he stared at her in confusion, then realizing Jo had taken the sheet that was covering him used one of the pillows to cover himself.

"Ahh… Did we really…?" he asked.

"I think so…" she answered.

They stayed in silence for a few minutes, the door opened and Sam and Bobby entered, immediately they noticed the tension, you could cut through it like if it were butter "I see you're back to normal" Sam said breaking the long and uncomfortable silence.

"Please… let's never talk about this again" Jo said, picked up her clothes and entered the bathroom.

"So… two weeks without looking each other in the eyes?" Dean asked from outside.

"Let's make it a month!" Jo called back.


	9. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

**Disclaimer:** I don't own supernatural

1958

Little Jonathan Butler and his sister Rose were playing in the back garden. Jonathan loved his little sister; she was graceful and beautiful and full with that curiosity and innocence typical of a girl her age. Jonathan was ten and Rose was just a year younger. Jonathan and her sister were always playing together, there was this game Rose especially loved, hide and seek, sometimes they played it all day. Rose loved this game because she loved to explore, the back yard, the small town they lived in and specially the forest. This passion for exploring was what made their father forbid them to play any close to the forest. Jonathan and Rose mother had died when Jonathan was six and Rose only five, Rose barely remembered her at all, she had been sick for a long time, and now they were only Mr. Butler, Jonathan and Rose.

One day Rose, came running back to his brother, she had been in the forest.

"Where were you?" Jonathan asked her.

"Exploring" she said innocently.

"Exploring where?"

"If I tell you… you promise not to tell dad?"

"You were in the forest, didn't you?" Jonathan said, Rose stayed quiet looking at him, "Rose you know dad doesn't want us going there"

"Well why not?" Rose asked annoyed.

"Is dangerous"

"No it isn't"

"You shouldn't go there"

"I'm an explorer I can go wherever I want"

"If you to the forest again… I gonna tell dad" Jonathan threatened.

"Then I won't show you what I found" Rose said frowning.

Full of curiosity Jonathan had to ask "What did you find?"

"I'll show you… if you promise not to tell dad"

Jonathan thought for a second, he knew it was wrong to disobey their father but the intrigue was too powerful "Fine I won't tell on you"

"Come" Rose said and ran towards the forest, After walking for a few minutes they reached a clearing.

"I'd swear she was here"

"Who?"

"The singing lady – Rose explained – she sings like mom"

"You remember her?" Jonathan asked surprised looking at her sister.

"Not really, but I remember she sang this lullaby to me, and the lady signs it exactly the same"

Without any success in finding the singing lady, they returned home. That night Rose was laying in bed next to his brother, since their mother died and their father was too busy with his work, she would climb on his brother's bed and he would tell her a bed story. She heard a melody, somebody humming; she recognized the tune, it was the same her mother used to sing.

"Jonathan" she whispered and moved.

Her brother stirred and opened his eyes "What?" he said half asleep.

"I think is the singing lady" she whispered to his ear "Let's go see"

"It's too late… go back to sleep" Jonathan said and turned.

"Come on she is lonely… she just wants to play with us" she said but Jonathan was already snoring, Rose climbed out of bed and tip toed to the back door.

The next day Jonathan woke up and found his bed empty, there was no sign of Rose, he checked her room, the kitchen and the bathroom and didn't found her, he woke his father and told him Rose was missing. His father looked for her in the places Jonathan had already look, but as time grew by so did his concern, he went outside and called for her, he screamed until the neighbours came out of their houses to see what had happened. The men gathered and conducted a search for the little girl, they never found her, and when they found Rose's pyjamas shirt caught between the branches of a tree, they knew they wouldn't. The shirt was stained with blood. They searched the whole forest and never found her.

2010

Dean hadn't been as confused in this trip as he was right now, first Jo had lied when she told him she hadn't felt anything when he kissed her, now he knew it wasn't true she had felt something and thanks to the nymph's potion he knew she had felt more than just something, but why? That was what he couldn't make out, why lie? He just didn't see the point. But that didn't matter right now, he pushed these thoughts away and focused, they were in a hunt and he needed to stay alert. The night was young but dark. They all had shotguns loaded with rock salt. Dean was leading, followed by Jo and Sam at the back, as they advanced deeper into the forest they could hear:

_Hey Jude, don't let me down…_

_You have found her…_

_Remember to let her into your heart…_

_Then you can start to make it better…_

"Is that…?" Jo asked.

"Hey Jude… yeah my mother used to sing that song to me when I was little" Dean explained.

The music came from up ahead, they kept walking, shotguns at the ready. The singing lady was the local legend in town, and as most legend they knew this one also happened to be real. They had found a newspaper article about a missing child, after doing some research they found out that little Walter Sanders wasn't the only child, other two were missing form the other towns nearby, and neither was Walter the first one, every thirteen years, three or four kids went missing without ever being found. The only link between the kids was they all had said to have heard the singing lady a few days before their disappearances. Looking closely at the towns tale, they got a clue, a woman, Anne Marie Smith, she had lived in the early '60s, according to the legend she was a teacher who loved kids, nevertheless she couldn't have children of her own and after her fifth miscarriage she committed suicide in her classroom, there was no record of where she was buried. They got to a clearing, they couldn't hear the voice anymore so they stood quiet, waiting.

"Can you hear her?" Sam asked.

"No" Dean answered scanning their surroundings with his flashlight.

They heard her sing again, with a rough woman's voice and a creepy spine chilling tone…

_Twinkle, twinkle little star…_

_How I wonder where you are…_

They turned to where the sound came "She's playing with us" Jo told the Winchesters.

They stood in a circle looking into the darkness, searching for the spirit. Dean saw something fast run behind Sam brushing his hair, he pointed his flashlight that way and got a glimpse of the monster. She was pale white and had long dark hair. Sam also turned but couldn't see her in time. She kept singing…

_Up the world above so high…_

_Like a diamond in the sky…_

They searched for her with their flashlights, Dean's beam hit her face, and he saw her. She had dark eyes and her lower jaw exceeded he upper by far, long crooked teeth raised up from it, her face was long and thin. She was circling them. She went out of their sight again, she kept singing in her cold and frightening voice…

_When the blazing sun is gone…_

Jo felt something running behind her.

_When the nothing shines upon…_

Dean saw her running behind Sammy, he aimed and shot, but it didn't dissipated, the rock salt hit something solid.

_Then you show your little light…_

"She's not a spirit!" Dean said to his companions.

_Twinkle, twinkle all the night…_

"That means our weapons are useless" Jo replied.

"They won't kill it but it's better than nothing" Sam told her.

_Then the trav'ler in the dark…_

_Thanks you for your little spark…_

_How could he see where to go …_

_If you didn't twinkle so? …_

She was trying to separate them "If she's not a spirit what is it?" Jo asked.

"No idea" Dean yelled back.

They waited, the bushes around them moved, she was looking for a way to attack them but she was too fast for any of them to get a good shot at her.

_When the blazing sun is gone…_

_When the nothing shines upon…_

There was a complete silence, as if all the forest had frozen, not even the whisper of that night's chilly air, the only sound they could hear was their hearts pumping fast, but that was inside their ears.

_Though I know not what you are…_

_Twinkle, twinkle little star._

And there she was, coming head on towards Sam, she moved so quickly Sam didn't have time to react. She pushed him to the ground. Dean jumped between the creature and his brother, shooting at the monster round after round, the echo of the gun's blast rumbling in his ears. With a quick swing of her arm she sliced in two the short shotgun's cannon, her claws also cut through Dean's flashlight, everything went dark and the only thing he could see was a pair of red eyes looking back at him. He went for his reliable handgun in the left side of his pants but the monster noticed the new threat and brought her hand up, throwing Dean upwards. Jo ran towards the monster and shot her point blank, the creature screamed in pain and ran towards the forest again, Sam was crouching next to Dean, Jo stood searching the trees with her light but there was no sound or movement that indicated the presence of the creature. She turned her light to the brothers, and saw Dean lying on the ground with two slashes on his chest. The first one was on his stomach, it was short and didn't look too deep, but the other ran all the way from below his shoulder to the beginning of his left thigh. He was breathing fast and his eyes were shut tight with pain but what frightened her the most was the amount of blood coming form it. Sam was next to his brother, using his shirt to try to slow down the blood flow, but his shirt was already soaked in it. They carried him back to the motel and after setting him in the bed Sam cleaned his wound and began sewing the wound. Jo went outside and a few seconds later she returned with hemostatic medicine, she placed the pills in Dean's mouth and placed a bottle of water next to his lips. Dean managed to swallow the pills, the pain was excruciating but he stayed awake the whole time it took Sammy to patch him up. He was covered in sweat and his head felt dizzy, his vision was getting a little blurry, finally he couldn't fight it anymore, he let his eyes shut and passed out.

Sam and Jo spent the whole night watching Dean, they were worried sick, in the middle of the night Dean's temperature had alarmingly risen, they placed small packs of ice on his head every now and then, and Jo would clean the sweat in his face and body, with a handkerchief dipped in cool water, while carefully cleaning his wounds Jo noticed something odd, the skin around them had turned a blackish-purple colour and closer to the slashes the skin became a pale yellow colour.

"Sam… - Jo called him – I think Dean was poisoned"

"What?" Sam said in worried low voice and looking at the wounds.

"We need to find out what that thing was"

Dean woke up early the next morning, his whole body hurt, and there was a burning pain on his side, his throat was dry and it hurt to swallow. Jo saw him stir and heard him moan, and immediately sat next to him. He looked at her. Jo felt his head, he was still hot, his wound hadn't changed much the black stain was still surrounding it, but what shocked her the most were his eyes, his beautiful green eyes, once so bright, so green were now dim and grey.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him.

"I'm thirsty and a bit cold" he answered.

Jo grabbed a bottle of water from her bag "Here" she said carefully holding his head up so he could drink.

Dean drank the whole bottle in three big gulps, the water made him feel a little better, he looked around and noticed his shirt was gone and that his jeans and underwear were torn around the wound in his leg, he smiled at Jo "What no movie? No dinner?"

"What?" Jo asked confused.

"I'm half naked here… the least you could have done was buy me a coffee" he said.

"Did the blood lost damaged your brain, you almost died yesterday, you're burning up with fever and you were poisoned and you are making jokes?"

"Wow someone is in a mood today – Dean said sarcastically – wait did you say poisoned?"

"Yeah, Sam and I have been trying to find out what that creature is, so we can find an antidote or something"

"Then it's a pretty good thing that I'm awake" he said with a weak smirk.

"You know what that thing was?"

"Not really but I have a hunch – he tried to sit up but a wave of pain made him stay right where he was, Jo helped him lift his head and upper body, she did her best to not disturb his wounds. Dean had a little head rush and closed his eyes – remember the big old book we have in the trunk?... bring it" he said with his eyes still closed, he felt dizzy and wanted to throw up even when there was nothing in his stomach.

"I can't…Sam took the car" Jo looked at him. He was as white as the sheets in the bed. "Maybe you should lie down again"

"Yeah I think is a good idea" he sounded dead-beat.

She helped him down again, after setting him back he screamed in pain, at first Jo thought she had accidentally rubbed his side "I'm sorry I didn't mean to…"

Dean's lips were pressed into a thigh line. Jo looked at his wound, the black stain was bigger, after a couple of minutes the pain subsisted and Dean was able to open his eyes again, the jokes were gone, his gaze was serious. Jo hated seeing him like this, she could see he was in pain and it hurt her that she couldn't do anything to help him, she sat next to him and felt his forehead, it was worst than before, she began cooling his face with her handkerchief. Dean looked at her eyes, the sunlight that entered through the bathroom window gave her eyes that honey colour that he loved, but at the same time her eyes looked sad, she was worried about him, he could see that as if it where written all over her face. The gently way on which she traced his skin with the ice-water dipped cloth felt pretty dammed good. He closed his eyes for a second, and felt her warm palm against his cheek, it was not the kind of warm he was feeling all over his body due the creature's poison, it was the kind of warm you wanted to wake up to every morning, the kind of warm you felt when you were about to tell your girl that you loved her, the kind of warm you felt on your lips right before a kiss, the kind of soft warm that made you feel safe.

"Don't… - Jo began – try to stay awake Dean… please" her voice choked.

He heard her and he wanted to stay awake just for the mere fact that she was asking him to, but he was tired and his body ached, he passed out again.

Jo heard a car pull outside the room, a minute later Sam walked into the room, he looked disappointed.

"Nothing" he said with a low voice looking at the floor "How's Dean?"

"He's not doing so good, he was awake just a minute ago but… the black mark is spreading" Jo's words only made Sam feel worst, his brother was in danger and he didn't had a clue of what they were dealing with "Wait! – she said as the thought crossed her mind – he said something about a book, the big black book you have in the trunk"

Sam went to get it right away, the only black book they had was some old tome Bobby had left behind in the Impala, he returned to the room with the tome in hand "This book?" he asked Jo.

"I think so"

Sam started flipping trough the pages, a couple hours later and quite a few cups of coffee he found it. It was the drawing of a skinny woman with an incredibly big jaw, claws that touched the floor, and long straight hair "Jo" he called in almost a whisper.

Jo had been researching in her computer. She was sitting on a chair next to Dean's bed. He slept calmly and his temperature had lowered a bit "Found something?" she asked, all her hopes were up "It looks like the one that attacked us" she said looking at the image.

"It's a black rogue – Sam told her – a creature, similar to the wendigo, but much older, they are exiled from civilization, they can't have offspring so they steal kids, it keeps them in her lair until they die from starvation, she feeds of pretty much everything, even the corpses of the kids she steals"

"Does it say anything about its poison?"

"Yeah, their saliva is extremely poisonous and the only cure it's the creature's own blood"

"Saliva? But Dean was scratched"

"They lick their nails in order to make them a much deadlier weapon to their preys" Sam explained.

"How do we kill it?"

"It says stake to the heart"

"Great, let's go waste the bitch" Sam looked at her in the eyes "What?" Jo asked confused.

"I want you to stay here and watch for Dean"

"What? But you could get hurt, I mean you saw it Sam it was pretty fast… you're going to need help"

"I just – he took a deep breath – I just don't want anything to happen to Dean – he look at her, he wasn't convincing her – look that thing… it was attacking me, ok? Dean got hurt because he was saving my ass… its personal" he explained.

Jo still thought it was a bad idea, an incredibly stupid one, but she also thought there was no way Sam would change his mind "All right… but if there's any trouble…"

"I wont but if I do, I'll come right back"

"What if you can't come back?" Jo asked in a low voice.

Sam didn't answer he looked at her then at his brother and back at her "Take care of him, don't let him out of your sight" and with that he walked out.

Sam drove the Impala to where the road ended and the forest began. He grabbed a flashlight and a wooden stake from the trunk and hiked to the clearing where they had been attacked. He figured he would start there, before reaching the clearing a tree caught his attention. It was a grey colour and was completely dried. Sam noticed a long scratch on the right side of the tree. He looked around, there were more trees like this one, he followed them and they led straight to the clearing. They hadn't noticed that yesterday, the night had been too dark to catch this patron. A huge tree stood alone in the middle of the clearing, completely dried out of life and he walked towards it. He was halfway there when he noticed something strange, the forest had silenced, everything was quiet, _no bugs, no birds, no nothing_ Sam thought and looked around. He waited for a minute, he couldn't see or hear the thing. He kept going. But after five steps the floor beneath him collapsed, and he felt into a tunnel. The tunnel wasn't too deep, Sam had to bend down a little to make his way. With his flashlight he illuminated the passage behind him, it seemed endless, _son of a bitch, this thing must run all the way to town_ he thought, he took a look at the tunnel ahead and started walking. He reached a small chamber that was located under the big tree, from here there were three other tunnels that went in different directions, Sam remembered Jo had said something about the missing kids from the towns nearby. Sam heard a noise so he froze in place and waited, he needed to find out from which tunnel it was coming from, he tried to listen carefully, it sounded like someone weeping. He approached one of the tunnels and listened, nothing. He approached the second the sound was coming from this one, he walked along the tunnel and reached another small chamber. In here he found three kids, two girls and one boy, the girl were sleeping but the boy was awake and was sitting in the floor hugging his knees and crying, a badly built barricade made out of dried tree branches and some rusty old barbed wire divided the chamber in half.

When the kid saw Sam he started crying harder "It's ok…Walter right?... don't worry Walter my name is Sam and I'm going to get you out of here" he said as he worked the fence, but no matter what Walter kept crying. Sam stopped working, he had a bad feeling about Walter crying the way he was doing, he grabbed his wooden stake and with a quick movement he turned and blind stabbed the air. But there was nothing there, he couldn't understand. Then a small pile of dust felt on his shoulder and he got it, he looked up but the creature was already swinging her hand against him, it hit him with the back of her hand hard enough to slam him against the walk and leaving Sam unconscious.

A couple of hours after Sam left, Dean woke up again. Jo was eating a granola bar from the machine outside, she left it on the table and went to check on him "Welcome back" she said.

"How long was I out?" he asked rubbing his eyes with his right hand.

"A couple of hours"

Dean looked around "Sammy's not back yet?"

"Actually he came back and left… - Dean looked at her confused – we found out what that thing is…checked the book you'd mentioned before passing out"

"So he's gone after bitch by himself? – Dean asked angry – Why aren't you with him?"

"He said he wanted me to stay here and take care of you"

"And you just like that you let him go?"

"He wasn't taking no for an answer because he feels it's his fault that you got hurt"

Dean threw his sheets to one side of the bed and sat up, this time he didn't need Jo's help, he did had a little head rush but nothing he couldn't control.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jo asked as he searched his bag.

Pulling out a clean shirt he answered "We're going to go get Sam back"

"What? You can even move your left arm… I won't let you go… I promised your brother I wouldn't let you out of my sight"

"And you won't, you're coming with me, you said it yourself I can't move my left arm… now can you help me get into this dammed thing" Dean said showing her the shirt.

_This i__s a bad idea_ Jo thought as they made their way through the forest. The sun was still in the sky but it wouldn't be for long. Dean looked awfully pale and his breathing was shallow.

"Maybe we should get back, you don't look so good" Jo suggested.

"I'm fine…besides it would takes us time Sam might not have"

"You don't know if he is hurt"

"And you don't know that he isn't" he snapped back.

Jo knew it was pointless Dean could be sweating blood and he would still be looking for Sam. Jo approached him and grabbing his good arm she placed around her shoulders "I can walk by myself" Dean said taking his arm back.

"No you can't and don't give me that macho crap, I'm tired of it… you want to find Sam? Well we'd walk faster if you'd let me help you. I don't know about you but I want to get to the clearing before nightfall and before we turn into black rogue's tasty take out" she stopped and yelled at him, without taking her eyes off his.

Dean was speechless, he had never seen this combination of angry, seriousness and concern in… well anyone, there was fire in her gaze, they looked into each others eyes for a moment until Dean broke contact and without saying a word he wrapped his arm around Jo's shoulders. They walked in silence until they reached the clearing and not long after, they found the whole Sam had fallen into. Jo helped Dean down. As they explored the tunnel Jo felt Dean's weight coming down on her as he fell to his knees, his lips were pressed in a tight line again. Jo kneeled beside him. She lifted his shirt and looked at the wound, as she did this she could feel his skin, it was burning, then she saw that the black mark had spread almost to half his chest, she sat him on the floor, against the dirt wall.

"You're getting worse, we need to get…"

"No, we need to find Sam" he said through his teeth.

Leaning on the wall and taking a deep breath he stood up and kept walking. Jo looked at him in awe, he still wanted to find his brother, he was in great pain and still the will to find Sam was stronger. She ran towards him and placing his arm around her they moved along the dark tunnel.

They got to the chamber where the kids were kept. Jo looked around with her flashlight, the kids were asleep, next to a boy's cage they saw a broken flashlight "That's Sammy's" Dean breathed out, he didn't had much energy left in him, he could barely keep his eyes open.

To their right there was another chamber, it looked like an abandoned antique shop, there were all sorts of old thing stocked in there, including a big old mirror, in the middle of this one Sam lay unconscious in the floor. Despite the pain Dean couldn't help smiling. They approached him and noticed he had a big bruise on his forehead. To their touch Sam woke up, he looked at his brother in horror then at Jo.

"What are you doing? I told you to look after him!" he said angrily.

Before Jo could answer Dean jumped in her defence "I made her bring me" the words were barely a whisper, he was right on the edge.

Sam couldn't argue with his brother, at least not when he looked like this, he would save it for later, he looked at Jo "Did you run into her?"

"No"

"She must have gone out then – Sam said to himself – I have a plan – he said looking into Jo's eyes – Did you bring a stake?"

"Yeah" Jo said and handed him the weapon.

"You and Dean hide, I'll play unconscious here, when she gets close enough to me I'll ice the bitch"

Jo and Dean hid behind the big mirror and waited for the creature to show up. Jo looked at Dean. He looked horrible, he was leaning against the wall, and he had his gun in his hand but was pressing against his wound. Jo looked at the floor and saw a couple drops of blood. As quietly as she could, she helped him sit on the floor, she took a look at his side, the wound had re-opened and he was breathless with pain. They heard a noise, Jo grabbed Dean's gun and turned waiting. She took a peek and saw the monster. It was by the entrance of the chamber but seemed to be confused by something. It walked in but instead of going for Sam she kept walking in her direction. Jo looked at it then at the floor and she saw it, there was a small trace of little blood stains. It was following them. There was no way in hell Jo would allow that thing to come any closet to Dean. She jumped out of hiding and shot the creature. She emptied the magazine. It stopped her for only a second or two but it was enough for Sam to stand up and drive the stake through the creature's back and pierce her heart. Jo took out a small holy water canteen and emptied on the floor, she toss it to Sam. Sam filled about half of it with the black rogue's blood. Jo set Dean's head back and opened his mouth, Sam poured all the blood into his brother's mouth and waited, a couple of seconds later Dean began to breathe normally, for Sam and Jo this couple of seconds felt like an eternity.

Sam took Dean back to the motel while Jo took the kids to the hospital, they were fine but she wanted to make sure of that. Back at the motel, Sam had set Dean on his bed. Dean was sleeping deeply. Sam had patched him up again, the black stain was still there, but Dean didn't have fever anymore and was breathing properly. Sam had the feeling his brother would be fine and back to normal in a matter of a couple days. Jo came back with good news, the kids were fine and all the families were happy to have them back safe and sound and incredibly thankful to the hikers that had saved them.

Jo sat next to Dean and gently caressed his hand. He looked calm. She was relieved, honestly she didn't know how much she would have taken, watch him in pain, and slowly getting worse like that, it was something she didn't want to see ever again.

"You should get some rest too Jo" Sam said softly.

She didn't want to, but Sam was right she should rest, she was tired as hell. She placed his hand back where it had been and looked at him for a second more, then she stood up "If anything happens…" she began but Sam already knew what she was going to say.

"I'll let you know immediately… I promise" Sam said.

She went to her room, she wanted to lay down her head and sleep, as calmly and deeply as Dean was, as she closed her eyes a voice made her jump "I need your help"

She turned, it was Benjamin.

* * *

Well that's chap 9. It might take me a little while to update, you know school stuff, but I'm still on the game. =)

Oh yes, and I almost forgot, please review. =)

See you later.


	10. A Way Out

**Disclaimer:** I don't own supernatural

"What are you doing here?" Jo demanded.

"As I just said, I need your help" Benjamin answered as if talking to a little girl. Jo waited to see what he wanted help with. As she remained silent Benjamin continued "You see... I want to... slice Nicholas throat… after of course excruciating hours of intolerable pain and suffering"

"Why? I thought you were…sort of … friends?"

"We're nothing – his black eyes were shinning with fury – he's just a pretentious human with his head up his ass who happened to find a spell to bound me to his service… but I've had enough, I don't serve humans – he said angrily, then took a deep breath to calm himself – now if you are done playing nurse with the Winchesters in the other room we'll be on our way"

"Everyone seems to be turning on him, first Denise, now you"

"Denise? That bitch didn't turned on him, she was his most faithful asset, but she screw up thinking she could make him forget the stupid vendetta he has against the Winchesters" he said with an uncaring wave of his hand and going for the door.

"Why does he want revenge so bad?" Jo whispered to herself, but not low enough for Ben not to hear her.

"Honestly – he said approaching her, as if he was going to reveal a secret to her – I don't give a rat's ass! I only know he wants Dean dead as much as I want him. Now can we go? We've got things to do!"

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what you want me to do" Jo stated firmly.

"I can't believe it! I'm offering you a way out of your predicament and you're setting conditions?"

"You're a demon! Not exactly the most reliable kind around here"

"Fine! I'm working on a ritual but it can only be perform by humans… and even if my meat suit here is human, deep down I'm not" there was a small pulsing vein on Ben'

"What do I have to do?"

"Lots of thing, so shall we get going time is ticking"

"What's with all the hurry?"

"Sunday, the solar eclipse, that's when the ritual is performed"

"Fine let me tell Sam I'll be going"

"There's no time for that" Benjamin complained but Jo didn't listen.

She went to the guy's room and told Sam a friend of her had called, he seemed to be having trouble with a spirit and she was leaving to help him "If everything goes right I should b back by Monday" she said to Sam.

"Yeah it's ok, I think Dean is going to need a couple of days to recover anyways" Sam replied and Jo left.

As Jo closed the door Benjamin was already outside the room, waiting in a stolen car "Where did you get it?"

"Don't worry the guy I stole it from is not going to do much driving these days"

"Why?"

"Because I broke his freaking neck, now get in the dammed car!" he yelled at her.

Jo got in the car and with the squeal of the tires and the smell of burned rubber Benjamin speeded.

Jo woke up, she didn't remember falling asleep in the first place, it was Friday, they had until Sunday afternoon to do whatever Benjamin was planning "Where are we?" Jo asked him.

"New Orleans"

"What are we doing in New Orleans?"

"Visiting an old friend" they stopped at a small Voodoo shop "Come in I'll be with you in a sec" Benjamin said.

Jo entered. She was looking at all the merchandise around the store when out of nowhere an old man jumped in her way, he had a sloppy grey beard and wore a colourful outfit, his skin was dark as chocolate, so were his eyes "Welcome stranger! – he greeted – welcome to the unknown, I see you're here to uncover the secrets of our ancient culture, what are you interested in?... perhaps some love oil? Non a belle demoiselle like you doesn't need that – he answered to himself – maybe a gris gris or a voodoo doll, what's on your mind ma belle? Luck, love, health…"

"Drop the act LaCroix she's with me" Benjamin yelled stepping into the shop carrying two big red bottles.

"Oh it's you…" the old man said.

"Yeah nice to see you too, look I need a favour" Ben said setting the bottles in a table next to the old man.

"Is that…" the old man said licking his lips.

"Yeah demon's blood, and it'll be all yours if you help me" Benjamin tempted him.

"What is it this time? Another amulet?" the man asked looking back at Benjamin.

"Far from it, this is what we need" he handed a piece of paper to the man.

"Oh this is quite a powerful spell…wait dragon scales? You have any idea how rare these are?"

"Yes but I also know you have them, so are you in or not?"

The old man thought about it for as second "Is a tricky ritual and I'd be using what's left of my dragon scales… I don't know if two bottles is a fair price"

"This is only half, I'll give you the other half when the ritual is done"

After thinking about it some more the man finally said "Fine come with me"

He took them to the back of the store, behind an old wooden door, Jo was surprised when she entered, there were all sorts of amulets here, some looked to be over a hundred years old, there were also all kinds of books and candles, on the back there was a big shelf with jars that contain all sorts of things, some even appeared to be human parts, but what called her attention was a big iron cage, there was a skeleton inside and some old fabrics, probably the guy's clothes.

"Wait here" the man said.

Benjamin noticed Jo's interest on the cage "It's a gibbet… it was used a long time ago, for punishing criminals, the iron cage would keep their spirits from leaving this world"

"But that's way too dangerous, I mean you'd have a seriously major pissed out spirit in your hands"

"Yes but these things are usually so old, that the spirit doesn't know who's keeping him captive, you set it free in anyplace you want and it would go around killing people no matter who they are" Ben said with a grin.

The old man returned with a pile of bottles and jars, in his right hand he held a small cage with a black cat inside "Here we go" he said setting all in large empty table.

"That won't work" Benjamin said.

"What won't work?" the old man repeated.

"The cat, we need something better for the sacrifice"

"What are you suggesting?"

"A Black Shuck"

"Oui bien sûr, let me just go to the pet store and ask for a vicious ghost dog" the old man said sarcastically.

"You make sure everything is ready for Sunday afternoon old man, we'll get the dog"

"Do whatever you want just remember we need it alive" the old man reminded him laughing "And exactly how are you planning on catching it?" he continued.

"We may know a trick or two" Benjamin said looking at Jo then at the gibbet hanging from the ceiling.

Benjamin and Jo hit the road again, Benjamin was serious about their timing for Jo had never seen anyone drive as fast as him, she didn't like a single thing about working with him but if this was a way to get out of her situation without harming anyone and better still, without letting Dean know she had agreed to kill him with some psycho, she would do it. She was glad to think soon this would be over, she would have her mother back, she would get out of the Winchesters backs, especially Dean's. She hadn't wanted to accept it but each passing day, the thought of betraying him like that, became more unbearable, each day she find Dean Winchester less annoying and more charming. She pushed those thought out of her head and looked at Benjamin "Where are we going to find a Black Shuck?"

"My, my… and I thought you were a hunter… what do you know about black dogs?"

"They're supposed to be big vicious dogs with bright eyes. They are often seen in graveyards, crossroads and usually are death omens"

"Good, good you might want to remember that sometimes there not just omens they actually kill people… have you ever hunted one?"

"No"

The sun was setting in the horizon as they entered to a large town, there was a few people in the streets, Jo looked at them, busy people with places to go and people to meet, they had no idea that that monsters like the one she was about to hunt were real, living in a beautiful ignorance of an already too dangerous world, she wondered sometimes what would the world be like if everybody knew the truth.

"So we look for the people who have seen it?" Jo said looking around.

"I forgot that you hunters usually arrive town in blank – he began walking to a park – all the people that have seen it are dead except for a boy, Joshua Rodriguez, they were having a picnic when it ripped apart his parents, saved the boy for later I guess" he said, the information didn't seemed to matter much to him, his tone of voice was the same he had always used, mocking and uninterested.

He kept walking fast, Jo had to catch up with him "Why is it hunting a park?"

"Civil War, battlefield, high body count" he explained simply as he stopped and analyzed a tree "Dammed it" Benjamin cursed.

"What?" Jo said approaching to him.

"This isn't the one I'm looking for"

Jo looked at the tree, there was a large scratch on it, this was the spot where the Rodriguez family had been attacked, Jo was sure of it "It looks like a Black Dog mark to me"

"That's because it is – Benjamin rolled his eyes and Jo looked at him confused – Black Dogs usually play solo, but sometimes, rare times, they go in packs, that's what we're dealing here, this – he pointed at the scratch – is just a weak link in the pack, we are hunting the leader" Benjamin stepped away from the tree and continued walking.

"But we're still hunting this one right?" Jo asked.

Benjamin didn't stop, didn't even bother to turn "Of course not"

"But what about Joshua? He saw the dog, its going to be after him" she said running towards Benjamin and standing in his way.

"He's dead meat" he said and tried to continue but Jo didn't move.

"So we're just going to leave a bunch of Black Dogs on the loose?"

"Pretty much yeah" he said simply not caring. Benjamin tried to pass again but Jo wouldn't allow him "Move" he said seriously.

"No… you want my help? We're hunting all"

Benjamin let out a nervous laugh "You're not serious" he said looking into her eyes, but they were, they were deadly serious "You're going to jeopardize the only opportunity to save Dean for some poor bastard you don't even know?" he said harshly, his black eyes were intimidating, but Jo stood her ground, she knew this was the right thing to do, this was what Dean would had done "Fine… may your little boyfriend burn in hell... again" he said an walk in another direction.

"And may you spend a happy eternity rotting at Nicholas side" she replied.

Benjamin stopped short, how did she dare, he could easily snap her neck as if were a twig, and yet there she was defying him, flashes of other times appeared before his eyes, when he was powerful, respected, feared, when he was considered royalty, when witches used to perform sacrifices to his honour, a darker time, a better time, now he looked at himself with disgust, chained by a miserable human who wasn't even worthy of as much as a look, and the worst part, the part that made his gut sink and his skin crawl was that she was right, without her he would be stuck with that dick forever. He turned quickly and with a single twist of his wrist he pushed her hard against a park lamp, she hit her head and fell to the floor moaning, he was next to her in an instant, he picked her up by her hair, yanking her head back with his free hand he traced her neck "You're a real smartass you know that? I don't like it and I'm this close to ripping your head off…" the light above them flickered and his grip on her neck became tighter.

"Go ahead, tell Nick I said hi" she whispered, she couldn't breathe and was almost out of air.

His anger rose, burning through him, like hot lava coming from a volcano, he lifted her up so her feet weren't touching the floor anymore, he looked at her, she was struggling, he found her eyes, he could see the fear in them, and that was enough for him, he might not be respected but he was still feared. He let go of her and she dropped to the floor coughing hard, trying to fill her lungs with air.

"I need to take care of a couple of things, you got tonight to try and save the boy, tomorrow we hunt the pack leader" he said and walked away.

After she recovered she hot wired the first car she saw and went looking for the boy's house, she didn't have a plan or a good weapon for that matter, the only weapon she had on her was her father's knife in her ankle's holster, but it was rough iron and it could harm the dog. She arrived just in time, the front door was on the floor, and a loud growl could be heard from inside, she jumped out of the car and entered the house, she followed the screams and got to the kitchen, the big black dog had the kid and his grandparents cornered. With incredible speed she didn't know she had, she stabbed the monster in the side once then jumped back as the animal turned and closed his strong jaw where her hand just had been.

The dog growled at her, his bright green eyes shining, it was ready to charge "Bring it on Cujo" she said and the dog leaped at her, she swung the knife in the air and caught the creature's neck, but the dog too caught some of her arm as well, she pushed the dog to the floor, it left a whole set of teeth marks on her arm. The dog was back on his feet in no time, he seemed not to mind its wounds, she looked around, she needed a plan, then her eyes stopped on the bag of salt by the stove. The dog jumped at her again, she dodge it but barely, as she reached for the bag of salt the dog leaped at her making her fall to the floor, she tried to push it off but it was too big, she grabbed the bag of salt and jerked up, salt flew in the air and hit the dogs face and body. It moved away immediately but in its hurry it slashed her, right below her collar bone, with a fistful of salt in one hand and the knife in the other she waited, the dog seemed to be analyzing its options but finally it jumped at her. Jo threw the salt at it and dropped to the floor, the dog cried out as the salt burned his face and went straight to the fridge, it slammed the refrigerator's door hard, leaving a big dent, Jo stood up as fast as she could and brought the knife down on the monsters head, with a dying shriek the dog dropped to the floor, it was dead. Jo retrieved her knife and leaned against the counter, she could feel it then, the pain in her arm and chest, she took a moment to catch her breath, then looked around, the family was gone. She heard sirens, they didn't sound too far away, she rushed out through the back door.

She ran until she found a motel and paid for the night, she looked at the alarm clock on the night table, it was 4:28 in the morning, she went to the bathroom and was washing her wounds when she heard him "Busy night I see – she looked at the mirror and saw Benjamin's reflection, she ignored him and continued cleaning herself – did you managed to save the boy?" Benjamin asked hoping for no as an answer.

"Yes" she said in a low voice, she was tired and didn't want to pick a fight with him right now, looking at the mirror she noticed the red marks around her neck.

"Get some rest, I need my bait alert"

"That's what you need me for? Bait?"

"No... well not just for that, bait is one of your many uses" Jo didn't like it she didn't trust him at all "Don't worry I need you alive… besides I don't make mistakes, you won't end up like your daddy" he said with a smile on his face. She threw a punch but he caught her fist in the air, he twisted it to one side and she screamed in pain, he loved that sound, it was music to his ears, finally letting go of her he pushed her to the bed "Rest" he said seriously and went outside.

She slept for almost six hours and had awaken to the sound of the door closing, she quickly drew the knife from her ankle, then she saw it was Benjamin, "Save that for the dog" he threw her a brown paper bag "Eat" Benjamin commanded. The smell of the food made her stomach grumble. She was starving, her arm still hurt from the night before, but she managed to forget it as she breathed the delicious smell of the food. She ate fast and when she was done she joined the demon outside. He was standing in front of a truck, the kind used to transport horses, Jo stared at him confused "Rough iron" he said knocking on one of the metallic bars.

"So what's the plan?" Jo asked, she just wanted to get this over.

"We go to the park again, and you just sit pretty – he said as if it was the most common thing in the world, the he added with an I almost forgot tone – with this of course" he tossed a black bag to her, Jo caught it, it was some sort of amulet, before she could even ask Benjamin said "It'll drive it right to you"

They went to the loneliest part of the park, a long time ago that place had witnessed a terrible battle, now it was just another place where families had picnics and played catch. After everything was set, they waited for a couple of minutes before they heard the growl, up ahead, but then they heard another to their right, then an even stronger one to their left, finally another infernal howl died out behind them, Jo looked angrily at Benjamin, one was fine, two was acceptable, she'd handle one and Benjamin would do the other but four? That was suicide.

"Looks like it drew out the whole pack" Jo said looking at the small black sack on her hand, as three black dogs appeared, around them, all of them had bright green eyes, and looked pretty much like the one Jo had kill the night before. Benjamin didn't wait for the dogs to make their move, with a quick twist of his hand he threw a large knife, it hit one of the dogs in the neck, the knife was thrown with such force that it pushed the dog several feet back, the creature didn't even make a sound, just fell and never got back up. It all happened pretty fast, but as fast as Benjamin was she knew the others were going to tear her apart before Benjamin could even turn, but the dogs didn't move, they stood around them with a slight growl stuck in their throat and their shinny eyes focused on them, then with a loud and terrifying howl a huge dog burst through some trees to her right.

"This should be interesting" Benjamin said as he took a look at the dog.

Its fur was as black as night and the one in his back was up in little spikes, his eyes were bright red. With a thunderous bark that made Jo's blood run cold, it showed them its white teeth, they made an interesting contrast with its coal fur, but what made Jo's jaw drop was its size, it was taller than Benjamin, she wasn't sure if it would fit in the truck, but that was the least of her problems since it jump over Benjamin and was charging against her, she thought she was screaming but didn't have any air for that, she wanted to run or move away but her legs wouldn't budge, the only thing she could do was watch her reflection on its monstrous ruby eyes. It leaped, Jo wanted to close her eyes but she couldn't force herself to look away, the only thought that crossed her mind was _Dean_, she whispered to herself and as a single tear rolled down her cheek, she thought about him, about his beautiful eyes, about his charming smile, about his spiky hair cut, about his scent, his leathery smell that drove her insane, about his soft and gentle lips and the magnificent kiss he had gave her. This last illusion was shattered when the dog while on the air was thrown and slammed against a tree by an invisible force. The dog hit the ground hard, it shook its head confused and looked at Benjamin.

"Hey snap out of it, would you? We've got work to do!" he yelled at her.

Jo looked around, she was back at the forest and she saw one of the smaller dogs spring into a run towards her, she reached for the knife on her ankle and threw it at the incoming monster as she dove out of its way, the knife stuck in the creature's bright green eye, it cried out and fell but stood up immediately, it rushed against her again, Jo ran to where the dog Benjamin had kill lay, she unstuck the knife and turned, the dog was already on top of her, it bite down hard trying to get her neck but Jo managed to move a little to the right and instead of a death blow the dog only managed to get a bite of her shoulder, Jo screamed in pain and stabbed the monster with the long blade, she kept stabbing until it let go of her and finally standing up and with a strong blow she decapitated the hell spawn. She took her own knife out of the creature's eye and went back to where Benjamin and the last dogs where. Benjamin was handling it pretty good, the fact that both the remaining dogs seemed to be teaming up against him didn't seemed to bother him, each time the dogs attacked him he either dodge them or threw them away, but still he wasn't inflicting them much damage, and he seemed to be getting tired, the last attack he had barely managed to dodge, and he made a great effort while throwing the huge dog.

"Benjamin!" she screamed as she threw the large knife with all her strength.

The knife hit a tree right next to Benjamin and just in time, the small dog had jumped at him, he grabbed the knife and gave it a strong pull, he made a 180 degree swing and sliced the dog's head. The pack leader barked at Benjamin, who by now seemed exhausted and was breathing hard.

"Hey! Looking for this?" Jo screamed at the huge monster, showing it the amulet Benjamin had given her.

It turned his head towards Jo and stared at her for a moment, Jo sprang into a run and the dog followed, she was fast but with its huge and strong legs the dog caught up with her right away, Jo could hear it, every step it took made the ground beneath her shake, she could feel it's hot, moist breath on the back of her neck, she could see the truck up ahead, she took a look back, the creature's teeth were inches from her, she wasn't going to make it, _it was a stupid plan, thinking I could outrun it_ she thought as a strong force like a wave pushed her to one side, she fell to the ground but saw when the dog, despite being confused about its snack's disappearance, kept running forward and stopped right in front of the truck, then the same force that had hit Jo, pushed it inside and lifted the gate close. The dog slammed his body against the cage. Jo picked herself up and joined an exhausted Benjamin next to the truck.

"I don't think it'll hold" Jo said scared.

"Just wait and see" he said heavily breathing out.

Every time the dog touched the metal cage, it got a nasty burn which made it cry in pain, it happened a bunch of times before either it realized what was happening or it got tired or too painful, anyway the dog settled down, he just stared at its captors.

Benjamin was covered in sweat and deadly pale, he looked like a corpse, he reminded her of when Dean was poisoned, she wondered how he would be doing right now, she hoped better, or at least conscious "Are you ok?"

"I'll live" Benjamin snapped back "Now let's take this little bastard back to New Orleans" he said and after covering the cage climbed in the truck.

Dean woke up that Saturday night, he felt much better and was starving, Sam got him some food from a place a couple of blocks from their motel.

"Slow down dude, nobody's going to take a bite at your food while you are not looking" Sam scolded his brother as he almost choked and had to drink some water to get the food down.

"Sorry it's just… man this is good!" Dean said taking another big bite.

Sam rolled his eyes at him, it was completely pointless, Dean loved to eat and since he had been out for two days he understood his brother's hunger "At least try not to choke on it Dean, one near death experience per weekend ok?"

As Dean took a zip of water he looked around, something was missing, something annoying and at the same time something important, then he knew what was missing "Where's Jo?" he asked Sam.

"She's hunting, a friend of her had some spirit trouble and he asked her for help"

"Why didn't you go with her?" Dean asked confused.

"Hello? You were in the edge of life and death Dean, besides she's a big girl Dean she knows how to take care of herself"

"Yeah… it's just…"

"Stop worrying about her, you've seen her with us, she'll be fine"

"Sure but I mean, when she's with us we got her back covered, there she has what? some friend?" Sam sighed and rolled his eyes "I saw that, what was this?" Dean said copying his brother's reaction.

"Please Dean… I know you worry about her because you like her"

"I don't… it's just… she is our fellow hunter and…"

"And that's bullshit you like her" Sam said looking at him, Dean didn't reply he just stared back at Sam "Wow that much?"

"Fine, fine I do, I like her ok?" he said looking away "Happy now?"

Sam turned back at some paperback book he was reading, after a moment of silence he began mocking "Dean and Jo sitting on a tree…"

"You're so dead…" Dean said and jumped out of bed to kick his bother's ass.

They pull over, Jo was confused by this, they were in the middle of nowhere. Benjamin jumped out of the truck and kneeled on the ground, he started coughing hard, Jo got down too and approached him, there was a small stain of blood on the ground "What happened?" Jo asked.

"Seems I may have pushed my meat suit a little too much – he explained wiping his mouth with his sleeve – I need you to drive" he stood up and walked to the passengers seat, Jo climbed in the drivers seat and turned the engine and drove.

"Oh please, my grandma could drive faster than you" Benjamin said annoyed, Jo didn't mind him so he tried again "It's Sunday morning, if you really want to get out of your deal with Dean save and sound you're gonna have to drive faster" Jo thought about this, he was right, they would never make it to New Orleans at this pace, without taking her eyes of the road, she speeded. Benjamin laid his head back and rest as the chilly air of the morning hit his face.

They arrived to New Orleans a few minutes before the eclipse "I hope the old sack of bones has everything ready" Benjamin muttered under his breath, he led Jo to where the ritual was taking place.

LaCroix had everything ready, there was a big altar, but no matter how big it didn't stand against the black dog's size, it had all sorts of herbs, some smelled pretty good and others like something had been dead for quite a long time, to the right side of the altar there was a symbol drawn on the floor, one that Jo had never seen, and in front of it there was a pentagram surrounded by black candles, LaCroix approached them followed by a young woman, with beautiful chocolate colour skin, her long curly hair covered her back and shoulders, she was wearing a colourful outfit very similar to LaCroix's "I was beginning to think you weren't coming – the old man said coming closer, he took a good look at the demon – you look like crap"

"Thanks I feel like shit, let's get this over with" Benjamin said pissed.

"Lena here is going to perform the dance… I'm too old for that, but I'll chant the spell" Jo looked at the woman, she was serious and only nodded at LaCroix's statement.

"Fine I'll do the sacrifice" Benjamin said nodding towards the truck.

"My, my… it's quite a specimen you got there – he said looking at the huge dog in the cage, he turned his gaze at Jo – I'm assuming you will be giving the tear and the blood"

Jo didn't respond, Benjamin placed a hand on her shoulder and led her to the altar "You need to offer blood given willingly and a tear shed from your heart – Jo looked at him confuse and was about to speak when he continued as if he knew her exact thoughts - that's why I chose you, just think about what would happen to "him" if this goes wrong and cry" Jo looked around she saw LaCroix standing on the weird symbol on the right, a few feet in front of him the girl stood with the same serious expression, Benjamin crouched and took out her small knife taking his large knife as well he set them on the altar crossing the blades, his watch alarm made a loud beep "It's time and you're up first" he said grabbing her arm and with his index finger he made a long vertical cut, Jo placed her arm over the knifes and bleed on the blades, she started to feel drowsy, after a couple of second more Benjamin stopped her "The tear" he said in a low voice. Jo tried to evoke all sad memories she could think of, she even thought of the scenario of Dean trapped in Nicholas grip, but she couldn't cry, the tears wouldn't come to her eyes and she didn't know why. Looking at her Benjamin was loosing his patience they didn't had much time and they had to continue, he placed the same index finger he had used to cut her to her temple. Suddenly Jo wasn't in New Orleans anymore, she didn't know where she was, but he was there, Dean was on the floor in front of her, his face showed her anger and disbelief but his eyes were watery and sad.

She kneeled next to him "You trick me…" he managed to say.

"Oh God Dean – she said looking at him, there was a knife handle coming out of his chest – we need to get you a doctor" she said placing her hands on his chest analyzing the wound.

With what was left of his strength Dean shoved her hands away "It was all a lie… you never really care for me did you?" he said breathing hard.

"No, no I can explain…" she began but that's when she saw, the knife she could see the initials W.A.H. it was her knife, had she done this to him?

Dean mumbled something Jo couldn't understand, she lean closer to him holding his face with her hands, his green eyes focused on her "I loved you" he whispered, his eyes had that faraway look, as if trying to remember something he never would, but that was not the case, all the life that had been present in his green eyes a second ago was now gone "No, Dean …please no…" she said feeling the tears forming to her eyes "No" she said again, but she was no longer with him, she was back at New Orleans, in front of the altar and next to Benjamin, but her tears were still there, she leaned forward and let one drop down. It fell right where the blades crossed.

"Stand back" Benjamin commanded as he took his place over the pentagram on the floor. She stepped away, still feeling out of place and confused. LaCroix began chanting, Jo turned her attention to Lena, she was moving, dancing, she seemed to float in the air, all her moves were made with such a grace, a grace that was achieved only by the most dedicated professional dancers, her hair and clothes melted with her body, and she seemed to have abandoned the planet, nothing around her bothered her, Jo could almost hear the music she was dancing to, it was beautiful and relaxing, the sun began to fade away and Lena kept on. Benjamin released the door of the truck and lifting it in the air as he had done so when it had attacked Jo. The dog hovered over the altar, and after a short but loud enchantment the dog was ripped apart, his blood falling over the altar. LaCroix screamed the final word of his spell as the sun was completely covered and they were left in darkness, Lena stopped dancing and held her position, Benjamin had his gaze fixed in the altar. The sun shone again, the eclipse was over. Benjamin approached the altar and picked the knives, he began cleaning them up. LaCroix and Lena approached, by the smile on LaCroix's face it had turned out ok. Benjamin approached Jo and handed her the small knife, the blade had turned a vermillion colour.

"That dream… did you…?" Jo whispered.

"Put it on your head? – Ben finished for her – Yes"

"How?"

"Hanging with Nicholas hasn't been a waste of "all" my time, I've picked up a thing or two"

Jo looked down at the knife "What did you do to it?"

"That knife can pass through all sorts of protective charms and spells and Nicholas has a whole bunch of those"

"Why did you make two?"

"It's your part, that kind of blade is very rare, you can do whatever you want with it, sell it, use it, go crazy… look this little adventure we just had doesn't suddenly make us friends or anything, I don't like you, and now that the ritual is done, we're back to hunter and demon, natural enemies. I'll take care of Nicholas, but let me tell you if I run into you or your precious Winchesters I won't be nice" in a blink and before Jo could add anything to the conversation, he was gone.

After finding a car, Jo was on her way back to the motel where she had last seen the Winchesters, it took her the rest of the evening to get there, she didn't feel good, she was pale due the blood lost, and was exhausted, the whole thing, the kid and the black dog, the capturing the pack leader, the ritual and that awful dream Benjamin had put on her head, she had had enough, she just wanted to go back and… _and what?_ She thought _and hug him and kiss him and tell him the whole truth? Sure he won't be mad that your leaving his live in the hands of a demon, he won't tell you to get the hell out of his life, no in fact he'll tell you he likes you as much as you like him, hell he might even propose_ a sarcastic voice in her head said. She pulled on the motel's lot and saw the black Impala parked in front of the room, that was good it meant that they hadn't just ditch her, taking a deep breath in front of the door she knocked, Sam opened he smile when he saw her but the smile quickly faded away "Jo are you ok? You look terrible" he asked concerned.

"I'm fine, just tired – her gaze fell on Dean, he was sleeping – How's Dean?"

"Better than you think, he was awake most of the day… a pain in the ass but that means he's healing just fine – he looked at her – I see it was quite a hunt" he said looking at her shoulder.

She had totally forgot about her wounds, they were superficial and unimportant she just wanted to check on them and get some sleep "It was a black dog" she explained sitting down on the empty bed next to Dean's.

"Hey let me clean those scratches" Sam said going to the bathroom to get the first aid kit, but when he came back Jo' head was lying on the soft pillow and she was deeply asleep.

* * *

hey everyone! I know it's been like six months or so but well school its pretty heavy... anyways I hope you like this chapter and I hope to continue this story... oh yeah I almost forgot, please review =)


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